Lara Markham

Lara Markham is a Principal in Apax Partners’ Global Impact team. Apax’s official biography says she joined the firm in 2021 and is based in London. She sits on the board of IES, a UK-based climate technology company, and Apax lists IES and Foods Connected as her current partnerships.

Before Apax, Markham worked at Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity firm. Apax states that at Graphite she focused on healthcare and consumer investments. Graphite announced in November 2020 that she had been promoted to Investment Director after joining the firm in 2017 and working on a variety of transactions.

Earlier in her career, Markham worked as a consultant at OC&C Strategy Consultants. She holds a BA in Law from the University of Oxford.

• Apax Global Impact “invests in visionary businesses delivering tangible impact” and partners with management teams to drive outcomes for “people and planet.”
• The strategy targets four impact themes aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Health & Wellness; Climate, Environment & Resource Efficiency; Social & Economic Mobility; and Digital Impact Enablers.
• Apax Global Impact’s stated ownership model is “growth buyout or minority growth,” with “flexible capital with a partnership approach.”
• The fund’s average equity check is $30 million to $150 million per partnership, so it is not a seed investor despite older stub data associating Markham with seed/angel investing.
• Apax says the strategy uses proprietary impact measurement, including an Impact Threshold Score to qualify opportunities and an Impact Improvement Score to track outcomes during ownership.
• Markham’s own Apax-listed partnerships indicate an emphasis on impact software and services: IES for building decarbonisation and Foods Connected for food supply-chain quality, traceability, sustainability, and risk visibility.