Collective's Next Bet: AI Governance, Physical AI, and Europe Defence

The conviction list has been dominated by real assets, infrastructure bottlenecks and physical scarcity for eighteen months. Last week, software broke through. The thesis is simple: as enterprises race to deploy LLMs, the hardest problem is not building AI but governing it. Compliance, data sovereignty, audit trails, security. The platform that becomes the operating fabric for enterprise AI governance captures a recurring, mission-critical revenue stream with valuation discipline the broader AI cohort has lacked. AI governance is a tangible constraint, and the collective is treating it like one.

But governing AI is only half of the problem. The other half is giving it eyes. The AI infrastructure trade started with compute, moved to memory, and is now entering its third phase: perception. Three-dimensional spatial sensing is the foundational layer for humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, drone defence and smart-city infrastructure. Memory is solved. The constraint binding physical AI is making sense of the world in real time. The collective is positioning across both halves: Western defence and industrial sensing on one side, Asian robotics and automotive on the other. Both structural, not cyclical.

That physical layer connects directly to the third theme. European defence. NATO commitments are being backed by real budget increases broadening from heavy armour into ruggedised electronics, drone capabilities and training simulation. The defence cycle is not a single trade but a layered one, with the digital layer growing faster than the steel.

What Drove the Collective Ideas This Week

WoW: +5%

The conviction basket gained 5% week-on-week. Physical AI sensing and semiconductor platform plays led the upside, driven by major design wins and a strategic repositioning toward robotics and humanoids. European defence and technology names compounded on the back of multi-vertical wins spanning air traffic management, training simulation and digital payments infrastructure. The bottom of the book was digital asset infrastructure, hit by the largest weekly sector outflows of 2026 as capital rotated into AI equities and precious metals. The conviction view holds: the drawdown reflects sector mechanics, not fundamentals.

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New or updated showcases

Aduro Clean Technologies
Aduro Clean Technologies is developing a multi-application chemical recycling platform that turns lower-value feedstocks, including waste plastic, heavy oil and renewable oils, into higher-value fuels and chemical feedstocks. With its pilot plant now operating, a planned first industrial facility at Chemelot in the Netherlands, and recent commercial momentum through an offtake LOI and EPC partnership, Aduro is moving from lab-stage promise toward real-world deployment across several large energy and materials markets. Read more.

Tooru plc
Tooru is a UK-listed health and wellness group building a portfolio of "free-from" food brands, anchored by Juvela, the UK's leading gluten-free bakery brand, alongside OAF, Pulsin and Purely. The investment case is a "build to be bought" story, with Tooru aiming to create a differentiated challenger platform in gluten-free and plant-based foods that larger consumer groups could eventually scale or acquire. Read more.

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