Scottish Mortgage soared in popularity during the pandemic as investors looked for exposure to tech companies but suffered from the spike in inflation and rising interest rates in 2022. It meant that its private holdings became a bigger proportion of its portfolio. While it faced criticism from investors and analysts concerned about transparency, particularly because private valuations are irregular, these holdings are now its biggest draw, particularly its investment in SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI. Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell said: 'The the issues around a lack of transparency, irregular valuation updates, and liquidity, haven't gone away with regard to private companies. 'That's perhaps why Scottish Mortgage is only asking for a relatively small change to its investment policy rather than asking investors if it can go big. If SpaceX's IPO does go ahead as expected, Scottish Mortgage would suddenly have a lot less exposure to private markets as Elon Musk's rockets-to-satellites group currently represents a hefty chunk of its private positions.' Scottish Mortgage shares rose 0.94 per cent to 1,193p and are up 23 per cent over the last year. DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS