Eduardo Velasco

Eduardo Velasco is a Partner at L Catterton Europe, based in Paris, where he leads the firm's investment activities across France, Benelux, and Iberia. He joined the firm in 2004 as an Investment Manager and was promoted to Partner in 2009. Over more than two decades at L Catterton he has managed numerous investments and exits, with a concentration in fashion and premium consumer brands. He currently sits on the boards of Ganni, Goiko, A.P.C., and JOTT.

Before L Catterton, Velasco worked in corporate finance and transaction advisory. He led due diligence, M&A, and restructuring projects at Andersen Corporate Finance in France (later merged into Ernst & Young), and subsequently served as a Senior Consultant in the Transaction Services team at Deloitte Corporate Finance. In total he has accumulated over 25 years of consulting and private equity experience.

Velasco's education spans Mexico and France: a Finance degree from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), a Master's in Financial Engineering from ITESO (Mexico), and an International Management degree from HEC in France. He began his career in Mexico before relocating to France.

L Catterton, the firm he represents, describes itself as the largest and most experienced consumer-focused private equity group in the world, managing roughly $37–40 billion of equity capital across private equity, credit, and real estate platforms, and running distinct strategies including Flagship Buyout, Growth, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Velasco is a public face of the firm in Europe, appearing at events such as IPEM Paris 2024 and the European Foodservice Summit.

• Invests in established, brand-led consumer companies — not startups or seed-stage businesses — with an emphasis on premium/luxury fashion and apparel and food & beverage.
• Backs brands with strong, differentiated DNA and international expansion runway; on A.P.C. he called it "a highly differentiated brand with a robust international strategy and sustainability at its heart."
• Deep sector conviction in fashion: "Fashion has been in our DNA for a really long time," and L Catterton knows "inside and out the segments we invest in."
• Focuses on operational value creation and scaling — e.g., under L Catterton's ownership Ganni's revenues grew roughly five-fold to close to €200 million over about four years.
• Pragmatic, consumer-first view on sustainability/ESG, arguing that "consumers do not believe in ESG transformations" — implying he backs authentic brand substance over marketing narratives.
• Typical structures are majority/controlling stakes or significant minority positions in European mid-market consumer businesses, with checks at growth-equity to buyout scale.