Tech entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl and Google executive to join Edinburgh trust board

Scottish tech entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl and a Google executive are set to join the board of one of Baillie Gifford’s flagship investment trusts.

Mr Van der Kuyl, who co-founded Dundee-based games firm 4J Studios, will join the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust on Tuesday.

He will be joined on the board of the Edinburgh-based trust – which has more than £900 million in assets across companies including Tesla and Amazon – by business development expert Rachael Palmer who currently leads Google's venture capital and start-up partnerships for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Chris van der Kuyl, who co-founded Dundee-based games firm 4J Studios, will join the board of the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust on Tuesday. Picture: Peter Gregor.

Mr Van der Kuyl started computer games company Vis Entertainment, which had a big hit with State of Emergency, and was later chief executive of IT firm Brightsolid. In 2005, he joined forces with former schoolfriend Paddy Burns to set up 4J Studios, which is best known for developing Minecraft for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo games consoles.

He is also chairman of Scottish-based companies TVSquared, Broker Insights, Stormcloud Games and Parsley Box and sits on the boards of Blippar, Ace Aquatec, and ADV Holdings.

Earlier this year, he and Mr Burns launched Chroma Ventures, the investment arm of 4J Studios. It will focus predominantly on firms based in Scotland and the UK initially, but with ambitions to extend its reach globally. It will typically make investments of between £500,000 and £5 million in support of “exceptional individuals and teams taking an entrepreneurial approach to developing innovative ideas and technology”.

Gavin Anderson, who has worked with the likes of Maven Capital Partners, EY and KPMG, has been appointed as investment director to develop the portfolio.

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