About

15 years building what SOMA now assesses.

SOMA was built by a practitioner who operated at the intersection of hardware, software, and capital across Jaguar Land Rover, LeasePlan, The AA, and Xerox.

Mihir Parikh
Founder

Mihir Parikh

Founder, SOMA Assurance

SOMA emerged from a straightforward observation: the systems that lenders are now being asked to finance are the same systems I spent 15 years building. The challenge is not unique to any one lender or deal. It is structural. Hardware-enabled credit requires a different diligence framework, one that understands how hardware, software, and capital interact operationally. That framework did not exist. SOMA is it.

The methodology is grounded in direct operational experience, not in theory or secondary research. Every dimension of the framework, every instrument, and every output type reflects something I have encountered firsthand: a hardware-software desynchronisation event, an escrow that could not reproduce the production environment, a capital repayment schedule that assumed uptime the fleet could not deliver.

Jaguar Land Rover
Architected the Connected Car operational layer: device data, smart connectivity, telematics, and mobile platforms. Built the board-level investment case for hardware-as-a-service. Secured Board approval for the service model. Led global software-over-the-air rollout across all EVs. MVP to full-scale across 6 countries and 3 continents. Directly lived the hardware-software-capital synchronisation challenge at scale.
LeasePlan
PE-driven value creation in a complex hardware-as-a-service fleet environment. Architected the operational layer and Target Operating Model. Delivered 14% EBITDA uplift. Developed deep understanding of PE diligence requirements and operating leverage in asset-intensive businesses.
The AA
Built ML-driven predictive maintenance capability from telematics data, translating hardware operational signals into business intelligence. Delivered 1.5% year-on-year EBITDA uplift from operational intelligence. Established fleet assurance capability.
Xerox
Led the pivot of B2B operations to HW/SW/Print-as-a-Service. Synchronised hardware deployment, software lifecycle, and capital obligations across a £5–100M reseller network. Direct experience of what it means to keep hardware, software, and financing aligned under commercial pressure.
MS Electrical Engineering, Syracuse University   |   MBA, London Business School
All SOMA intellectual property, including the 111-factor methodology, the six proprietary instruments (IRM, TCS, CFS, MDRA, OTTM, CSIP), and all assessment templates and frameworks, was developed independently by Mihir Parikh and is held exclusively by SOMA Assurance. The methodology was validated within a live deal environment; all client work product remains confidential.
The SOMA Entity

A methodology-first firm.

SOMA is structured as a methodology provider, not a consulting practice. The distinction matters: the 111-factor framework exists independently of any single engagement. It is documented, structured, and designed to scale, from expert-led assessments in Phase 1, through workflow integration and monitoring SaaS in Phase 2, to platform productisation in Phase 3.

Phase 1 (current): Expert-led assessments using the proprietary framework. Fixed-fee, fixed-scope. Credit-committee-grade reports in days.

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