Fishing with rods, not nets

By Oliver Campbell │ ICM HPQC Fund │ June 2026

“Written by humans, please don’t blame the robots for our typos”

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Rod fishing is precise. You choose your lure, read the water, understand your quarry, and cast with intent. It demands skill, patience and knowledge and sometimes you come home empty-handed. Net fishing is the opposite: cast wide, catch everything, sort later. Volume over judgement. The haul might include bluefin tuna, but it might include an old boot.

At HPQC, we fish with rods. Here's why.

Capital is sacred

Every dollar our LPs commit has been earned. We don't treat it as ammunition to spray at a sector. We treat it as a responsibility — to our investors who want returns, and to the founders who want a genuine partner, not a passive cheque. That dual obligation matters. On the investor side, our LPs aren't just seeking financial return, they're seeking a window into one of the most consequential technological shifts of our time. They want to understand where compute is going and why it matters. We take seriously our role in helping them navigate that. On the founder side, the companies we back are often at a critical inflection point. Capital is necessary but it's not sufficient, what they need is a partner who understands the space, opens doors, and thinks long-term alongside them. We aim to be that. Indiscriminate investing undermines both relationships. If we back everything, we add value to nothing.

We back necessity, not novelty

Our roots at ICM are in real-world infrastructure. We look for companies solving real problems, ones with durable demand, not ones riding a wave of excitement. Sexy today, redundant tomorrow doesn't interest us. The compute space is full of extraordinary innovation; genuinely mind-bending technology that attracts attention, capital and talented people. We respect all of it. But admiration and investment are different decisions. The question we keep returning to is: will this still matter in ten years? Infrastructure investing taught us to ask that question ruthlessly. A road, a grid, a water treatment facility, a data centre - these things are needed regardless of what the economy is doing. We look for the compute equivalents: companies whose products become embedded in how the world operates, not ones that sit on top of trends that may shift. That's what we mean by evergreen. Not boring - essential.

Unit economics beat “TAM”

If a product costs more than the problem it solves, it's not a solution. We care less about how big a market could be and more about whether a business can actually win in it, sustainably and at scale. Total addressable market is a seductive number. It tells a good story in a deck. But TAM tells you nothing about whether a company can reach profitability at unit level, whether the cost of acquiring and serving customers is justified by the value they generate, or whether margins expand as the business scales. We've seen too many companies in high-growth sectors that expand revenue while quietly destroying value — even over the long term — where every new customer costs more to win and serve than they return. We push hard on the economics at the unit level, even at an early stage, because that's where the truth lives. A smaller market with genuine unit economics is almost always a better investment than a vast market with a leaky bucket. We want to understand what it costs to deliver the product, what the customer actually pays, and what's left over — and we want to see a credible path to those numbers improving over time.

Our network is our edge

Decades of relationships across tech, infrastructure and industry mean we rarely need to go looking. We know what's coming, we know who's building it well, and we know who to call to verify it. That's worth more than a deal pipeline. This matters in two distinct ways. First, on sourcing: the best opportunities in early-stage compute don't necessarily show up on platforms or at conferences. They come through trust networks — a founder who was referred by another founder, a technologist who flags something they're seeing in their lab, a co-investor who brings us into a round because they know our value-add. We've spent years building those relationships and they compound. Second, on validation: one of the hardest things in deep tech investing is knowing whether a technology actually works and whether the team can execute. We don't have to rely solely on our own judgement. Across our advisory network and our portfolio companies there is extraordinary technical depth — people who have built, deployed and scaled real systems. We can stress-test a claim properly. That combination — warm deal flow and genuine technical diligence — is what allows us to be precise rather than broad.

Price matters, even early

Attention creates premiums. We want our investors compensated fairly for the risks they're taking — not overpaying for hype. Early-stage investing in high-growth sectors involves real and substantial risk: technology risk, execution risk, market timing risk, regulatory risk. Investors accept those risks in exchange for the potential of meaningful return. But when valuations run ahead of fundamentals — driven by narrative, excitement or competitive deal dynamics — the risk-reward balance can tip. You can back the right company at the wrong price and still end up with a poor outcome. We take valuation seriously at every stage, even when it means walking away from deals where the technology is compelling but the entry point isn't. That discipline is uncomfortable in a hot market where others are moving fast. But we think it's essential. Our job isn't to be in every interesting deal — and of course it’s often worth paying up for quality - but we must always remember that the goal is to be in the right deals at the right price.

We're building for the long game

We want to keep fishing in the same waters. That means operating with consistency,

integrity, and with a process we can repeat. Burning bridges to chase a deal isn't our style. Reputation in a specialist investment community travels fast — in both directions. The way

we behave when we pass on a deal matters as much as how we behave when we lead one. Founders talk to each other. Co-investors compare notes. The networks we rely on for sourcing and validation are the same networks that will determine our access to the best opportunities in five and ten years' time. So we are deliberate about how we show up: honest in our feedback, clear about our criteria, reliable in our commitments. We also want our investment process itself to be repeatable — not dependent on a single individual's relationships or a single moment's market conditions, but built on a framework that holds across cycles.

In summary, nets might catch more in a single haul. But we believe that rods cast well and consistently in the right waters will outfish them over a season. We've walked away from opportunities that went on to do well. We're at peace with that because we believe fully in everything we have backed. There are many ways to catch a fish: rods, nets, traps, and pots, each with its own merit. But please stay away from dynamite.

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Oliver Campbell

Investment Principal of the ICM HPQC Fund

MAS Licensed Representative, ICM Global Funds Pte Ltd

June 2026

Important Note:

The information in this article should not be considered an offer or solicitation to deal in the ICM HPQC Fund (Registration number T22VC0112B SF003) (the “Sub-fund”). The information is provided on a general basis for informational purposes only and is not to be relied upon as investment, legal, tax, or other advice. It does not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation, or particular needs of any specific investor. Investors should seek relevant professional advice before making any investment decision. The information presented has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is given or may be implied that it is accurate or complete. The Investment Manager reserves the right to amend the information contained herein at any time, without notice. Investments in the Sub-fund are subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested. All forms of investments carry risks, including the risk of losing all of the invested amount. Investors should read the prospectus before deciding whether to acquire the units in ICM HPQC Fund. The value of investments and the income derived therefrom may fall or rise. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. This document is intended solely for institutional investors and accredited investors as defined under the Securities and Futures Act 2001 of Singapore. The whole or any part of this work may not be reproduced, copied or transmitted or any of its contents disclosed to third parties without ICM Global Fund’s express written consent. This advertisement or publication has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

ICM HPQC Fund a registered Sub-Fund of the ICMGF VCC (the VCC), a variable capital company incorporated in the Republic of Singapore. The assets and liabilities of ICM HPQC Fund are segregated from other Sub-Funds of the VCC, in accordance with Section 29 of the VCC Act.

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