Farah Khan

Farah Khan is a Managing Partner at L Catterton, the world's largest consumer-focused private equity firm, where she has invested for more than 15 years. She began at the firm working on North American growth equity and buyout investments and now focuses on the firm's Latin America platform, partnering with high-growth consumer businesses across the region. She sits on the boards of several L Catterton Latin America portfolio companies, including OdontoCompany, Espaçolaser, and St. Marche, and previously served on the board of Femme Laboratório da Mulher.

Before L Catterton, Khan was a Vice President at Sandler Capital Management, where she focused on growth equity, leveraged buyouts, and financings of middle-market companies. Earlier she worked at Apax Partners, a global private equity firm, concentrating on growth capital and leveraged buyouts in the retail and consumer-products sectors. She started her career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, covering corporate finance and M&A for retail, media, and technology companies out of both New York and Menlo Park.

Khan graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College (Class of 1998) with a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics, and earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She has spoken publicly about mentorship and career development — describing an "expanded definition of mentoring" she calls "my personal advisory board" and noting that "finding your voice is a critical step for success." She is active with LAVCA (the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America), including sessions on attracting and retaining female talent, and has championed L Catterton's deliberate strategy of backing businesses that are women-led, women-founded, or that target women customers.

• Invests in established, high-growth consumer businesses in Latin America — not early-stage/seed; these are growth-equity and control/buyout deals from institutional PE funds.
• Sector emphasis on retail, DTC brands, consumer health/beauty/wellness services, food & beverage, and consumer internet.
• Strong, deliberate focus on companies that are women-led, women-founded, or serve women customers — L Catterton's Latin America portfolio has aimed for a woman founder, C-suite executive, or board member across its holdings.
• Values partnership with proven founder-operators (e.g., backing OdontoCompany alongside founder Dr. Paulo Zahr and franchising operator José Carlos Semenzato, who had earlier partnered with L Catterton on Espaçolaser).
• On institutional partners: "IFC as an investor in our fund is a tremendous voice for us… IFC has been proactive in helping us find financing solutions for our middle-market businesses in Latin America" — signaling a focus on middle-market companies needing growth and financing support.