ICM HPQC Fund Research
Investment Thesis
ICM HPQC (High Performance and Quantum Compute) invests in the technologies that enable the next generation of computing: high-performance computing, quantum computing and quantum software, silicon photonics, optical interconnects, neuromorphic computing, AI infrastructure and advanced semiconductors. The thesis is that raw transistor scaling no longer delivers the compute AI and quantum workloads need, so the next advances come from the whole system: semiconductors, photonics, networking, memory, software, architecture, energy efficiency and quantum technology. The fund looks for companies moving from technical possibility toward commercial scalability, and says its focus is not on predicting which technology wins but on finding the bottlenecks, breakthroughs and businesses that create value as the compute stack evolves.
Structure and Manager
ICM HPQC Fund is a sub-fund of ICMGF VCC, a Singapore variable capital company managed by ICM Global Funds Pte. Ltd. (MAS-regulated, wholly owned by ICM Limited, headquartered in Singapore). ICM Limited is a Bermuda-headquartered, privately owned fund manager and corporate finance adviser founded in the late 1980s, with about US$1.7bn managed directly and US$50.9bn held by investee and affiliated companies (30 September 2026). The fund is open only to accredited and institutional investors. Fund 1 (registration T22VC0112B-SF003) first closed in December 2024 and is now closed to new investment and almost fully invested across five companies. Fund 2 (T22VC0112B-SF007) is described as launching soon.
Stage Focus
Early-stage. The fund describes itself as seeking early-stage investments in breakthrough hardware and software, but only when the technology is ready to scale commercially. Disclosed rounds are mostly Series A, where the fund has led or co-led.
Check Size
Not disclosed. Fund 1 size is not published on the fund website. Rounds it has led were $30M (Salience Labs Series A, co-led with Applied Ventures) and $33M (Mixx Technologies Series A, led), so individual checks are likely a fraction of those. No numeric check range is stored.
Lead Tendency
Leads or co-leads. Salience Labs (co-lead with Applied Ventures), Mixx Technologies (lead) and Sparxity (lead) were all announced as led or co-led by the fund. Diraq and Q-CTRL are shown in the portfolio without a stated role.
Recent Activity
- February 2025: co-led Salience Labs' $30M Series A with Applied Ventures; Salience later announced a $125M Series B.
- December 2025: led Mixx Technologies' $33M Series A.
- Late 2026: led Sparxity's Series A, bringing Sparxity's total funding to $90M.
- December 2024: ICM Global Funds announced the first close of the ICM HPQC Fund.
- August 2025: published a neuromorphic computing paper by the Technical Advisory Board chair.
Portfolio Highlights
- Diraq: silicon spin-qubit quantum computing built on CMOS manufacturing, founded by Prof. Andrew Dzurak.
- Q-CTRL: quantum control infrastructure software and software-defined quantum sensing; raised a $290M Series C.
- Salience Labs: silicon photonic switches for AI data center networking.
- Mixx Technologies: silicon-integrated optical interconnect fabrics for AI and HPC.
- Sparxity: sparse-native AI compute systems, over 70,000 chips shipped, rack-scale systems at supercomputing centres including Jülich.
Team
- Matthew Gould: Portfolio Manager, ICM HPQC Fund; Head of Emerging Technology, ICM Limited. Former CEO of Arria NLG, former HP strategy executive.
- Oliver Campbell: Investment Principal, Singapore. Joined 2026 from Stewart Investors.
- Charlie Kidd: Head of Origination, London. Joined 2026.
- Dr William Jeffrey: Chair, Technical Advisory Board. Former Director of NIST, former CEO of HRL and SRI International.
- Arvind Kaushal: Technical Advisory Board member, semiconductor strategy and M&A.
- Jonathan Chi: Chief Executive, ICM Global Funds.
- Pierre de Villecourt: Portfolio Operations and Technical Advisor, ICM Limited.
- Charles Jillings, Alasdair Younie, Duncan Saville: ICM Limited leadership.
Decision Process
An HPQC investment committee sits within ICM Global Funds, supported by the Technical Advisory Board. The fund says it understands the technology first, then assesses market, commercial pathway, management and the investment case. Process timeline is not published.
Founder Preferences
Deep-tech founders with scientific or engineering pedigree (university spin-outs, silicon and photonics specialists) and a credible route to commercial scale. Founders in the portfolio are domain experts with deep technical backgrounds.
Geographic Focus
Global, with a network across major innovation hubs. Portfolio companies are in Australia (Diraq, Q-CTRL), the UK (Salience Labs), the US (Mixx Technologies) and Europe/US (Sparxity). Origination covers Europe and Asia; the fund is based in Singapore.
Gaps
No published fund size, check range or ownership targets. Warm-intro requirements are not stated. Diraq and Q-CTRL stages and the fund's role in those rounds are not disclosed.