Spotlight on Alan Coffey, Director, Private Companies, Baillie Gifford
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Alan Coffey, Director, Private Companies, Baillie Gifford
In my role as Director, Private Companies at Baillie Gifford, I am responsible for working with investors globally, outlining the important role that private growth equity plays in portfolios, and helping them access great growth companies through Baillie Gifford’s dedicated strategies and investment solutions.
I am a senior member of Baillie Gifford’s Private Growth team, having joined the firm last year, bringing over 20 years’ experience in private equity across leading institutions.
Why? Baillie Gifford, an investor in growth companies for over 100 years, recognised early that access to exceptional businesses would increasingly require an integrated public and private approach. Since 2012, it has invested over US$10 billion in private growth companies, leveraging its long-termism, research depth, and global relationships.
Private for longer
Capital is essential for companies to grow. Historically, this was provided by public markets. However, since the GFC equity markets have been undergoing a structural transformation. The most innovative and ambitious companies are scaling privately. Why? Theories are numerous, but almost certainly the ZIRP era contributed to more capital formation in private markets. Increasing regulation and the burden of being public didn’t help. And the advent of the internet and smartphone technology enabled innovation and scaling like we had never seen before, and at a fraction of the cost.
Where are we today?
The average age of a company at IPO in the US has jumped from 8 to 14 years over the last two decades. SpaceX, one of the world’s most valuable private companies, is 24 years old and has a market value of over US$800 billion…at the time of writing.
If it listed at this valuation, it would be among the 25 largest American companies. That’s an enormous amount of wealth creation which has accrued to private investors. Contrast this with Amazon which listed in 1997 at a market cap of less than US$500 million, just three years after being founded. Or Tesla, which had a market cap of just US$1.7 billion at its 2010 IPO.
The emergence of a new asset class
This shift is not cyclical; it is a durable evolution in how growth companies are built and funded. It has created a large and attractive standalone asset class in private growth equity. There are currently over 1,500 ‘unicorn’ businesses with a total value of over US$6 trillion. Long-term investors seeking valuable returns should take note.
Implications for sophisticated investors
The implications are real. Private growth represents one of the most compelling opportunity sets for long-term investors seeking exposure to enduring innovation. The debate has moved on from - why would I invest in this space - to simply, why wouldn’t you? More of the leading companies in the world are staying private for longer, and value is accruing to those willing and able to take the step into private growth markets.
Think AI – think Anthropic. Think space – think SpaceX. Think payments – think Stripe. Think data cloud management – think Databricks.
And these are just the well-known scalers. Behind them sits over 1,500 unicorns which could be the category winners of tomorrow. The shift has become too big to ignore.
However, there are of course conditions for success.
Firstly, great companies are highly selective about the capital they take, and access is by no means a given.
Secondly, there is the question of risk. History is littered with ideas from disruptors who promise to change the world. These may deliver exceptional returns, but things don’t always go to plan. However, the attraction of private growth equity is that these businesses already have scale, proven product-market fit and are generating significant revenue and growth. In a bygone era, many of these businesses would already be public had structural market forces not afforded them the luxury of scaling their business without this distraction. Risk is unavoidable in equity investing - it’s what we all do - and we think this is a risk worth taking.
Alan will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Family Office Investment Forums, taking place on Tuesday, 17 March 2026 in Sydney CBD, New South Wales and Thursday, 19 March 2026 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Alan Coffey, Director, Private Companies, Baillie Gifford
Alan is a Director in the Private Companies Team with over two decades of private equity experience. He joined Baillie Gifford in 2025 from BlackRock.
Prior to this, Alan held senior positions at Goldman Sachs and SL Capital where he was a specialist responsible for private equity capital raising across Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. He began his career at Fintrax Holdings in Canberra, Australia, focusing on new business development.
Alan is a CFA Charterholder. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies (Hons) from University College Dublin in 1999, and earned a Masters in Finance (Hons) from the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, Dublin, in 2001.
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