peter-barrett
Peter Barrett is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Playground Global, the deep-tech venture firm he helped start in 2015 alongside Andy Rubin, Bruce Leak, and Matt Hershenson; he previously co-founded Rocket Science Games, built Microsoft's IPTV platform, and served as CTO of CloudCar, and holds over 100 patents.
Peter Barrett is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Playground Global, the deep-tech venture capital firm he helped start in 2015 with Andy Rubin, Bruce Leak, and Matt Hershenson, investing across life sciences, next-generation compute, infrastructure, energy transition, and automation. He sits on the boards of firms including PsiQuantum, NextSilicon, and Robust.AI. An Australian entrepreneur, Barrett began writing software as a teenager and, at 19, wrote a security program that drew NSA attention. He co-founded Rocket Science Games, an early studio that helped pioneer CD-ROM game distribution, later created what Playground describes as the first widely used video codec, and built Microsoft's IPTV platform after working with future Playground co-founders Rubin and Leak at WebTV. Before Playground, he was CTO of CloudCar, an automotive cloud-intelligence startup. He holds over 100 patents and was named a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow in 1996.
Overview
- Role
- Co-Founder & General Partner, Playground Global
- Based in
- Palo Alto, CA
- Prior experience
Companies0
No linked records yet.
Affiliated funds1
Frequently asked
- Who is peter-barrett?
- Peter Barrett is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Playground Global, the deep-tech venture capital firm he helped start in 2015 with Andy Rubin, Bruce Leak, and Matt Hershenson, investing across life sciences, next-generation compute, infrastructure, energy transition, and automation. He sits on the boards of firms including PsiQuantum, NextSilicon, and Robust.AI. An Australian entrepreneur, Barrett began writing software as a teenager and, at 19, wrote a security program that drew NSA attention. He co-founded Rocket Science Games, an early studio that helped pioneer CD-ROM game distribution, later created what Playground describes as the first widely used video codec, and built Microsoft's IPTV platform after working with future Playground co-founders Rubin and Leak at WebTV. Before Playground, he was CTO of CloudCar, an automotive cloud-intelligence startup. He holds over 100 patents and was named a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow in 1996.
- What is peter-barrett's role?
- peter-barrett is Co-Founder & General Partner, Playground Global, based in Palo Alto, CA.
Tags
Sources & citations5
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- 1
Peter Barrett is a General Partner, Investment at Playground Global
Playground Global: TeamVerified2026-08-12 - 2
Peter Barrett co-founded Rocket Science Games, created the first widely used video codec in the early 1990s, built Microsoft's most popular IPTV platform, developed cloud intelligence for automotive applications at CloudCar, holds over 100 patents, was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader for Tomorrow in 1996, and sits on the boards of Element Zero, NextSilicon, NVision, Phasecraft, PicoJool, PsiQuantum, Robust.AI, and xLight
Playground Global: Peter BarrettVerified2026-08-12 - 3
Peter Barrett is Australian, held an executive position at WebTV where he worked alongside future Playground co-founders Andy Rubin and Bruce Leak, held an executive position at Microsoft, and was Chief Technology Officer of CloudCar before co-founding Playground Global
Wikipedia: Peter Barrett (entrepreneur)Reported2026-08-12 - 4
Peter Barrett is a co-founder of Playground Global
TechCrunch: Extra Crunch Live: Join Playground Global co-founder Peter Barrett for a live Q&A on July 28Reported2020-07-24 - 5
Peter Barrett, Playground Global co-founder and General Partner, is quoted on Pat Gelsinger's arrival: Pat is an engineer's engineer. His unique experience and vision make him the perfect fit for Playground's mission.
Playground Global: Pat Gelsinger Joins Playground Global as General PartnerVerified2025-03-26