Peter is the Head of Private Companies at Baillie Gifford and became a partner of the firm in May 2022.

He has led research on a wide range of private investments including Epic Games, Grammarly, McMakler, Solugen, Scopely and Wayve, as well as a number of private holdings that have since transitioned to the public markets such as Airbnb, Affirm, Warby Parker, Wise and Auto1. 

Peter joined the firm in 2010 and initially spent time working in our Credit and UK Equity Teams, before moving to our Global Discovery Team, which focuses on identifying innovative and rapidly growing smaller companies around the world. He moved to our Long-Term Global Growth Team in 2014 at a time when the team was starting to invest in more private companies and became the first investor at Baillie Gifford to work exclusively on private company research. In September 2017, he moved to lead the newly formed Private Companies Team, which is focused on identifying high growth, private companies. Peter is also Manager of The Schiehallion Fund, our first dedicated Private Companies Fund.

Chris leads the Private Companies team’s on-the-ground presence in San Francisco. Prior to joining Baillie Gifford in 2019, he was a Partner for ten years at Sinovation Ventures, starting in Beijing but then leading their expansion into North America. At Baillie Gifford, Chris has led research on private investments including Upside Foods, Redwood Materials, and Nuro, as well as developing a strong research base for ongoing work on a range of other projects in agriculture, food delivery and electric vehicles. In addition to company research, Chris has been focusing on further developing Baillie Gifford’s networking and sourcing capabilities across North America and Asia.

Before joining Sinovation, Chris was Managing Partner at Eastern Bell Venture Capital in Shanghai. He also served as CEO of ICDL Asia, an organization in the computer skills certification sector with operations.

Robert has led research into private investments including Tanium, Sana Biotechnology, Graphcore, Pet Circle and Loft, as well as doing follow-up work to support existing holdings. In conjunction to his research responsibilities, he has been working to develop a best-in-class research culture and company support strategy for the team, as well as on building out our client engagement and support team. Robert is also Deputy Manager of The Schiehallion Fund, our first dedicated private companies fund. Robert joined the firm in 2015, having previously graduated BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford in 2014.

Bridget has led research into private investments including Allbirds and Cohesity, as well as driving deeper work on autonomous vehicles, batteries and genetics companies. A highly rigorous analyst, Bridget has frequently led our ‘fresh pair of eyes’ reviews of ongoing holdings such as Redwood Materials, Northvolt and Airbnb. Bridget joined the firm in 2017 having previously graduated BA (Hons) in French and Italian from UCL in 2015.

Lillian leads the Private Companies team’s on-the-ground presence in China. Previously Lillian worked at Eight Roads Ventures and Salesforces Ventures in Europe, where she led a number of deals into consumer and enterprise software deals. She writes a popular longform newsletter about Chinese technology called Chinese Characteristics. Lillian joined the firm in 2022 and holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from University of Cambridge and a masters in International Development from the London School of Economics.

Hendrik is an Investment Analyst in the Private Companies team, having joined Baillie Gifford in 2019. He previously spent time on our UK Equity and International Growth teams. He graduated MSc in Physics from The University of Antwerp in 2019 and spent an Erasmus year at The University of Edinburgh during his MSc. Recently, Hendrik has led research into Kepler Computing driven by his interest in the semiconductor industry. His other interests include the transition to renewable energy and automation.

Vittorio joined Baillie Gifford in 2020 as an Investment Analyst. Before joining Private Companies, he spent time working within the North America and Health Innovation strategies. Vittorio obtained a Law degree from Universita’ Bocconi in 2020 and completed the Themis Law network program at the University of St. Gallen in 2018.