Complete cost transparency and control
Eliminate hidden costs and surprise terms that delay critical infrastructure decisions. We deliver transparent, vendor-agnostic infrastructure guidance backed by global executive relationships.
Optimise spend
Complete cost transparency and procurement efficiency. Strategic investment aligned to business outcomes.
Transform infrastructure investment into a strategic advantage
Softcat helps research-driven investment firms gain complete visibility of infrastructure costs whilst structuring commercial models that preserve operational runway and accelerate decision-making.
Strategic procurement and vendor management
Softcat provides unified global support through a single account team and harmonised commercial frameworks. Our strategic vendor partnerships and centralised dashboards ensure complete visibility across regions.
Flexible financial structures
Softcat offers flexible billing and payment structures, including drawdown, milestone-based, and deferred options tailored to your needs. We support multi-entity invoicing and consistent VAT optimisation to simplify financial operations.
Enhanced spend visibility and control
Softcat equips procurement teams with comprehensive dashboards that track spend and supplier performance in real time. ESG and commercial scoring are embedded into workflows, while advanced tools highlight cost anomalies and opportunities.
Case study: Optimising spend through cost transparency
Challenge:
A fund approved a £5 million GPU cluster based on a vendor quote showing £4.2 million in hardware — but hidden costs told a different story. Freight to Stockholm, import duties, VAT across three entities, and installation fees added 23% to the final bill. Their CFO spent two weeks unpicking the numbers, delaying the project and missing a critical allocation window.
Softcat impact:
- Full landed cost breakdowns provided upfront
- Every quote includes hardware, freight, duties, VAT, and installation — line by line
- Finance teams receive a pre-approval pack with all details
- One hedge fund cut approval time from 3 weeks to 3 days
- No surprises, no hidden costs — clarity that drives decisions
Softcat’s pricing transparency cut our approval time from weeks to days.
CFO, Hedge Fund
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Case study: Preserving
capital through flexible
payment structures
Challenge:
A $2B quant fund had to decline a critical infrastructure upgrade as the upfront cost would consume 40% of their quarterly capital allocation.
Standard 30-day payment terms didn’t align with investor capital calls, which arrived month-end plus 45 days. Their Cayman entity structure complicated VAT recovery, and no one could explain the optimal approach. Valuable capital was tied up in infrastructure instead of generating alpha.
Softcat impact:
- Payment structures aligned with capital realities
- Drawdown billing matched investor capital inflows
- One fund spread infrastructure costs over 6 months, preserving £8m for trading
- Billing optimised to support VAT recovery across entities (without providing tax advice)
- Milestone payments, deferred invoicing, and multi-entity billing tailored to preserve capital for its highest use
Softcat structured payments around our capital flow — freeing up millions for trading.
CFO, Quant Fund
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World class vendor solutions
