Perspectives on Progress #18
Hamish Maxwell – Investment Specialist
- Revolut’s activated UK banking licence opens broader paths in deposits, credit and lending, while Redwood turns used electric vehicle batteries into tomorrow’s supply chain
- Shopify tests whether AI-driven pressure on software is masking its stronger, smarter commerce platform.
- Beyond Covid, Moderna is seeking new opportunities for its mRNA platform, while Joby moves closer to making urban air transport an everyday reality.
As with any investment, your capital is at risk.
Revolut
Banking and Beyond
Revolut’s UK banking licence has finally been activated, which is one of the most important milestones in its history. It matters because Revolut already has the customer scale of a major bank, with around 70 million customers globally, but until now in the UK it could not fully turn engagement into banking economics. A full licence opens broader paths in deposits, credit cards, personal loans and, over time, potentially larger lending products such as mortgages. That is powerful for a business that began as a travel card and is already one of Europe’s most valuable private companies. It has also applied for a US national bank charter, underlining the global ambition. Our access is useful: Revolut has stressed that credit will be rolled out cautiously and deliberately. Scale is valuable; disciplined banking can make it even more so.
Redwood Materials
Powering America's Energy Future
Redwood is a private holding in critical materials & energy storage. Its latest partnership with Rivian, best known for electric adventure vehicles, neatly closes a supply loop. More than 100 used Rivian battery packs will be repurposed by Redwood into a 10MWh storage system at Rivian’s Illinois factory, reducing peak grid demand and energy costs. Batteries that once powered Rivian’s vehicles will now help power the factory that builds them. The broader ambition is bigger still. Founded by Tesla co-founder and former CTO JB Straubel, Redwood is building a domestic battery ecosystem for the United States: recycling end-of-life batteries and factory scrap. It now recovers more than 95 percent of critical materials and receives over 20GWh of lithium-ion batteries a year. In an increasingly battery-hungry world, yesterday’s packs could become tomorrow’s strategic resource.
Moderna
mRNA's second act is still being written
For biotech business Moderna, sentiment has recently improved from a very low base: cancer trials are advancing, a patent settlement reduced a major overhang, costs are being cut, and European approvals are broadening the respiratory portfolio. Moderna's platform is built around messenger RNA: instructions that tell our cells to make useful proteins, including vaccines and potential cancer therapies. The idea is revolutionary because, as chief executive Stéphane Bancel told us, “you code everything”; one platform could support many medicines. Covid proved that at extraordinary speed. Moderna went from an outsider science project to a pandemic hero, scaling from trial batches to hundreds of millions of doses. After Covid came a painful fall: vaccine rates faded, revenues fell and losses mounted. We kept a small position after that. The central question is no longer whether mRNA could work, but whether Moderna can turn one breakthrough into a durable medicines platform.
Shopify
'The World's Best Commerce Platform?'
Around every 30 seconds, an entrepreneur makes a first sale on Shopify. That is impressive, but what exactly is Shopify? It is the "operating system for commerce", helping merchants create stores, take payments, manage inventory, fulfil orders, promote products, borrow, and sell across channels. The attraction is clear: tiny firms get serious tools, while larger brands gain infrastructure without rebuilding commerce from scratch. The harder question is what AI does to that model. Software shares have been bruised as investors fear cheaper code and weaker pricing. That uncertainty is real. Our regular access, including to co-founder and CEO Tobi Lütke, helps us test both sides. AI may be the biggest revolution of our lifetimes, so complacency would be wrong. Yet Shopify is itself using AI heavily, and has more than code: payments, checkout, merchant data, fulfilment, and revenue streams that grow with merchant activity. The risk is there, but so is optionality.
Joby Aviation
Skip traffic, time to fly
Founder JoeBen Bevirt said Joby is “closer than ever to making urban air transport an everyday reality”. In New York, it demonstrated point-to-point flights between JFK and Manhattan. In Dubai, where Joby has a six-year exclusive agreement, the air-taxi network is taking shape: a flagship vertiport at Dubai International Airport has been unveiled, with Joby targeting its first passengers there soon. It has also begun testing its first FAA-conforming aircraft for authorization, a key step towards final certification. Joby's electric air taxis rise like helicopters, cruise like planes, and aim to make the airport run a short, safe, quiet hop above the traffic.
Regulatory Information
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Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited (BGO) provides investment management and advisory services to non-UK clients. BGO is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford & Co. Both are authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Baillie Gifford Asia (Hong Kong) Limited 柏基亞洲(香港)有限公司 (BGA) holds a Type 1 licence from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong to market and distribute Baillie Gifford’s range of collective investment schemes and closed-ended funds such as investment trusts to professional investors in Hong Kong.
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Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (the “Company”) is an alternative investment fund for the purpose of Directive 2011/61/EU (the “AIFM Directive”). Baillie Gifford & Co Limited is the alternative investment fund manager (“AIFM”) of the Company and has been authorised for marketing to Professional Investors in this jurisdiction.
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Australia
This information is provided to you on the basis that you are a “wholesale client” within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“Corporations Act”). In no circumstances should this information be made available to a “retail client” within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act. This information contains general information only. It does not take into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs.
Belgium
The Company has not been and will not be registered with the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (Autoriteit voor Financiële Diensten en Markten / Autorité des services et marchés financiers) (the FSMA) as a public foreign alternative collective investment scheme under Article 259 of the Belgian Law of 19 April 2014 on alternative collective investment institutions and their managers (the Law of 19 April 2014). The shares in the Company will be marketed in Belgium to professional investors within the meaning the Law of 19 April 2014 only. Any offering material relating to the offering has not been, and will not be, approved by the FSMA pursuant to the Belgian laws and regulations applicable to the public offering of securities. Accordingly, this offering as well as any documents and materials relating to the offering may not be advertised, offered or distributed in any other way, directly or indirectly, to any other person located and/or resident in Belgium other than to professional investors within the meaning the Law of 19 April 2014 and in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public pursuant to the Law of 19 April 2014. The shares offered by the Company shall not, whether directly or indirectly, be marketed, offered, sold, transferred or delivered in Belgium to any individual or legal entity other than to professional investors within the meaning the Law of 19 April 2014 or than to investors having a minimum investment of at least EUR 250,000 per investor.
Germany
The Trust has not offered or placed and will not offer or place or sell, directly or indirectly, units/shares to retail investors or semi-professional investors in Germany, i.e. investors which do not qualify as professional investors as defined in sec. 1 (19) no. 32 German Investment Code (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch – KAGB) and has not distributed and will not distribute or cause to be distributed to such retail or semi-professional investor in Germany, this document or any other offering material relating to the units/shares of the Trust and that such offers, placements, sales and distributions have been and will be made in Germany only to professional investors within the meaning of sec. 1 (19) no. 32 German Investment Code (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch – KAGB).
Luxembourg
Units/shares/interests of the Trust may only be offered or sold in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourg) to professional investors within the meaning of Luxembourg act by the act of 12 July 2013 on alternative investment fund managers (the AIFM Act). This communication does not constitute an offer, an invitation or a solicitation for any investment or subscription for the units/shares/interests of the Trust by retail investors in Luxembourg. Any person who is in possession of this document is hereby notified that no action has or will be taken that would allow a direct or indirect offering or placement of the units/shares/interests of the Trust to retail investors in Luxembourg.
Switzerland
The Trust has not been approved by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”) for offering to non-qualified investors pursuant to Art. 120 para. 1 of the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes of 23 June 2006, as amended (“CISA”). Accordingly, the interests in the Trust may only be offered or advertised, and this document may only be made available, in Switzerland to qualified investors within the meaning of CISA. Investors in the Trust do not benefit from the specific investor protection provided by CISA and the supervision by the FINMA in connection with the approval for offering.
Singapore
This communication has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this communication and any other content or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the Trust may not be circulated or distributed, nor may be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act 2001, as modified or amended from time to time (SFA)) pursuant to Section 274 of the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA, or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.
Where the Trust is subscribed or purchased under Section 275 by a relevant person which is:
(a) a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or
(b) a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor, securities or securities-based derivatives contracts (each term as defined in Section 2(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the securities pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 except:
(1) to an institutional investor or to a relevant person or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 276(4)(c)(ii) of the SFA,
(2) where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer;
(3) where the transfer is by operation of law; or
(4) pursuant to Section 276(7) of the SFA or Regulation 37A of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Securities and Securities-based Derivatives Contracts) Regulations 2018.
About the author - Hamish Maxwell
Investment Specialist
Hamish joined Baillie Gifford in 2017 and is an investment specialist. He joined the Scottish Mortgage Team in 2024 and works closely with the managers, meeting with portfolio companies and conducting in-depth portfolio discussions with shareholders. Alongside this, he creates engaging content which makes the Scottish Mortgage portfolio accessible to all its shareholders. Prior to Scottish Mortgage, Hamish worked on Baillie Gifford's international equities strategies alongside Lawrence Burns. Before Baillie Gifford, Hamish served in the Royal Navy as a Commissioned Officer, including time as a leader in aircraft carriers, mine-hunters, and nuclear submarines. During training, he was awarded top-of-class by HRH Prince Edward. Hamish is a CFA Charterholder, and he achieved an MBA from City, University of London where he received the EU Award.
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