HCM IV Acquisition Corp.

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2025

Registration No.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORMS-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Shawn Matthews

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

100 First Stamford Place, Suite 330

Stamford, CT 06902

(203) 930-2200

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Shawn Matthews

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

100 First Stamford Place, Suite 330

Stamford, CT 06902

(203) 930-2200

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box.☐

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.☐

This Registration Statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with the provisions of Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

$250,000,000

25,000,000 Units

HCM IV Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination withone or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We may pursue an initial business combination in any business or industry.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. Only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or our liquidation, as described herein. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional 3,750,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem, regardless of whether they abstain, vote for, or vote against, our initial business combination, all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares that are sold as part of the units in this offering, which we refer to collectively as our public shares, upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account described below as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (net of amounts withdrawn to pay for our taxes any withdrawals to pay for our taxes (which shall exclude any 1% U.S. federal excise tax on stock repurchases under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that is imposed on us, if any), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. The proceeds placed in the Trust Account and the interest earned thereon shall not be used to pay for possible excise tax or any other fees or taxes that may be levied on the Company pursuant to any current, pending or future rules or laws, including without limitation any excise tax due under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) on any redemptions or share repurchases by the Company. See “Summary — The Offering — Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination” and “Summary — The Offering — Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination” for more information.

Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those shareholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination. See “Summary — The Offering — Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding 15% or more of the shares sold in this offering if we hold shareholder vote” for further discussion on certain limitations on redemption rights.

Our sponsor, HCM Investor Holdings IV, LLC, and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”), the representative of the underwriters, have committed, pursuant to written agreements, to purchase from us an aggregate of 4,666,667 warrants (whether or not the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised at all, partially or in full), each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $7,000,000 in the aggregate (whether or not the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised at all, partially or in full), in a private

placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Of those 4,666,667 warrants, our sponsor has agreed to purchase 3,000,000 warrants and Cantor has agreed to purchase 1,666,667 warrants. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share. The cashless exercise of such private placement warrants may result in material dilution to our public shareholders. The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering, subject to certain limited exceptions as described in this prospectus.

Institutional investors (none of which are affiliated with any member of our management, our sponsor, Cantor or any other investor), which we refer to as the “non-managing sponsor investors” throughout this prospectus, have expressed an interest to indirectly purchase, through the purchase of non-managing sponsor membership interests, an aggregate of 2,666,667 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant ($4,000,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Subject to each non-managing sponsor investor purchasing, through the sponsor, the private placement warrants allocated to it in connection with the closing of this offering, the sponsor will issue membership interests at a nominal purchase price to the non-managing sponsor investors reflecting interests in an aggregate of 2,000,000 founder shares held by the sponsor.

None of the non-managing sponsor investors have expressed to us an interest in purchasing any of the units in this offering and neither us nor the representative has had discussions with any non-managing sponsor investors regarding any purchases of units in this offering. Any potential purchase of the non-managing sponsor membership interests would not be contingent upon the participation in this offering or vice-versa. If the non-managing sponsor investors purchase units in the offering or otherwise hold any units, and depending on how many units are purchased by the non-managing sponsor investors, the post-offering trading volume, volatility and liquidity of our securities may be reduced relative to what they would have been had the units been more widely sold to other public investors. We do not expect any potential purchases of units by non-managing sponsor investors to negatively impact our ability to meet Nasdaq listing eligibility requirements. In addition, the underwriters have full discretion to allocate the units to investors and may determine not to sell any units to the non-managing sponsor investors, and in no case would any of the non-managing sponsor investors be sold more than 9.9% of the units to be sold in this offering. The underwriters would receive the same upfront discounts and commissions and deferred underwriting commissions on units purchased by the non-managing sponsor investors, if any, as it will on the other units sold to the public in this offering. In addition, if the non-managing sponsor investors purchase units in the offering or otherwise hold any units, the non-managing sponsor investors would not have any obligation to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination. Nevertheless, the non-managing sponsor investors would be incentivized to vote any of their public shares, if any, in favor of a business combination due to their indirect ownership through the sponsor of founder shares and private placement warrants. For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with the non-managing sponsor investors, see “Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares.”

Our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 8,625,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate of $25,000, up to 1,125,000 of are subject to surrender to us for no consideration after the closing of this offering depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised, which will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holders thereof on a one-for-one basis, subject to the adjustments described herein. Because our sponsor acquired the Class B ordinary shares at a nominal price, our public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution upon the closing of this offering. Further, the Class A ordinary shares issuable in connection with the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares may result in material dilution to our public shareholders due to the anti-dilution rights of our Class B ordinary shares that may result in an issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion. Additionally, our public shareholders may experience dilution from the exercise of the 4,666,667 private placement warrants to be purchased by our sponsor and Cantor simultaneously with the closing of this offering as well as any conversion of working capital loans into private placement warrants, if elected by the sponsor, as described herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities (as described herein), are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, 23% of the sum of all ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the

business combination. If we increase or decrease the size of the offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, we will effect a share capitalization or a share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares by our initial shareholders, on an as-converted basis, at approximately 30% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering. Such dilution could materially increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the founder shares results in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the founder shares at the time of our initial business combination to maintain the number of founder shares at approximately 30% (as described above). Prior to the closing of our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares (i) will have the right to vote to appoint and remove directors prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) will be entitled to vote on continuing our company in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands (including any special resolution required to amend our constitutional documents or to adopt new constitutional documents, in each case, as a result of our approving a transfer by way of continuation in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands). On any other matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, holders of the Class B ordinary shares and holders of the Class A ordinary shares will vote together as a single class, except as required by law. Upon consummation of this offering or thereafter, we will repay up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses, and we will begin paying an affiliate of our sponsor $35,000 per month for office space and administrative and personnel services. In the event that following this offering we obtain working capital loans from our sponsor to finance transaction costs related to our initial business combination, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of our sponsor. Additionally, our sponsor, our officers and directors or their affiliates may be paid finder’s fees, advisory fees, consulting fees or success fees in order to effectuate the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, following consummation of a business combination, members of our management team will be entitled to reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. As a result, there may be actual or potential material conflicts of interest between members of our management team, our sponsor and its affiliates on one hand, and purchasers in this offering on the other. See“Summary — Sponsor Information”, “Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares”, “Summary — The Offering — Transfer Restrictions on Founder Shares”, “Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares Conversion and Anti-Dilution Rights”,“Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Management Team — The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may result in significant dilution to the implied value of your public shares upon the consummation of our initial business combination, and our sponsor is likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our ordinary shares to materially decline”, and “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Securities — We may issue additional ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks. for further discussion on our sponsor’s and our affiliates’ securities and compensation.

As more fully discussed in“Management — Conflicts of Interest,” each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. The low price that our sponsor, executive officers and directors (directly or indirectly) paid for the founder shares creates an incentive whereby our officers and directors could potentially make a substantial profit even if we select an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public shareholders. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, or by such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, the founder shares and private placement warrants may expire worthless, except to the extent they receive liquidating distributions from assets outside the trust account, which could create an incentive for our sponsor, executive officers and directors to complete a transaction even if we select an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public shareholders. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or

resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. Additionally, commencing on the date on which our securities are listed on Nasdaq, we will reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor in an amount equal to $35,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative and shared personnel support services made available to us, as described elsewhere in this prospectus. Upon consummation of this offering, we will repay up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses. In the event that following this offering we obtain working capital loans from our sponsor to finance transaction costs related to our initial business combination, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of our sponsor.

Additionally, our public shareholders may experience material dilution if the $1,500,000 in working capital loans is fully advanced by the sponsor and the sponsor elects to convert the working capital loans into private placement warrants at $1.50 per warrant, resulting in the sponsor receiving an additional 1,000,000 private warrants exercisable at $11.50 per Class A ordinary share underlying the private placement warrants. Additionally, our sponsor, our officers and directors or their affiliates may be paid finder’s fees, advisory fees, consulting fees or success fees in order to effectuate the completion of our initial business combination, and we may engage our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as an advisor or otherwise in connection with our initial business combination and certain other transactions and pay such person or entity a salary or fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard for comparable transactions. Additionally, following consummation of a business combination, members of our management team will be entitled to reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. As a result, there may be actual or potential material conflicts of interest between our sponsor and its affiliates on the one hand, and purchasers in this offering on the other hand. See the sections titled“Summary — Sponsor Information”,“Summary — Conflicts of Interest”, “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination — Since our sponsor, officers and directors, any other holder of our founder shares, including any non-managing sponsor investors, may lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.” and “Management — Conflicts of Interest”for more information.

We have until the date that is 24 months from the closing of this offering or until such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, to consummate our initial business combination. If we anticipate that we may be unable to consummate our initial business combination within such 24-month period, we may seek shareholder approval to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to extend the date by which we must consummate our initial business combination. If we seek shareholder approval for an extension, holders of public shares will be offered an opportunity to redeem their shares at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned thereon (less taxes (other than excise taxes), if any, payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering (or such later date as approved by our shareholders), or by such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, we will redeem 100% of the public shares at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned thereon (less taxes (other than excise taxes), if any, payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law as further described herein.

Currently, there is no public market for our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants. We intend to apply to have our units listed on The Nasdaq Global Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “HACQU,” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on Nasdaq. We expect the Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units to begin separate trading on the 52 nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Cantor, the representative of the underwriters, informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our satisfaction of certain conditions as described further herein. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “HACQ” and “HACQW”, respectively.

We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 47 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

No offer or invitation, whether directly or indirectly, is being or may be made to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for any of our securities.

(1) Includes $0.20 per unit (including any units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units), or $5,000,000 in the aggregate (whether or not the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised), payable to Cantor upon the closing of this offering. Also includes $0.45 per unit on units other than those sold pursuant to the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units and $0.65 per unit on units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units, or $11,250,000 in the aggregate or up to $13,687,500 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, payable to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. for deferred underwriting commissions to be deposited into a U.S. based trust account and released to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. for its own account only upon the completion of an initial business combination. See also “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $250.0 million, or $287.5 million if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be placed into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.

The following table illustrates the difference between the public offering price per unit and our net tangible book value per share (NTBV), as adjusted to reflect various potential redemption levels that may occur in connection with the closing of our initial business combination, which we refer to as “Adjusted NTBVPS,” on a pro forma basis to give effect to this offering and the issuance of private placement warrants, and assuming the exercise in full and no exercise of the over-allotment option. Adjusted NTBVPS excludes the effect of the consummation of our initial business combination or any related transactions or expenses. See section entitled “Dilution” for more information.

Our sponsor and members of our management team will directly or indirectly own our securities following this offering, and accordingly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Additionally, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. As a result, there may be actual or potential material conflicts of interest between our sponsor and its affiliates on one hand, and purchasers in this offering on the other. See the sections titled “Summary — Conflicts of Interest”,“Proposed Business — Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets” and “Management — Conflicts of Interest” for more information.

The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. The underwriters expect to deliver the units to the purchasers on or about , 2025

Sole Book-Running Manager

Cantor

, 2025