Catherine Lewis La Torre has more than 35 years of experience in private capital markets, spanning private equity, venture capital and SME banking. She began her career in private equity with Cinven in London. In 1999 she founded her own fund-of-funds business, investing in buyout and venture capital on behalf of Nordic institutional investors. The firm was an early backer of Index Ventures' debut fund, which helped bring U.S.-style venture investing to Europe. She sold the business in 2007 and went on to senior roles as a partner with Fondinvest, a Paris-based secondaries firm and as head of private equity at pensions investment specialist Cardano, now part of Marsh McLennan..
In 2016, Catherine joined the British Business Bank, the UK's state-owned economic development bank. There she built the Bank's equity investment offering and served as Chief Executive of its commercial subsidiaries, British Patient Capital and British Business Investments. Under her leadership, British Patient Capital became one of the UK's largest investors in venture and growth capital. In 2020 she was asked to lead the Bank as Chief Executive, and she steered it through the delivery of the UK government's Covid-19 business support schemes until completing her mandate in 2023.
Today Catherine serves as an independent non-executive director of HSBC Innovation Banking UK and of Alantra Partners, the Madrid-listed investment banking and alternative asset management firm. She advises companies across the innovation economy, with a particular focus on deep tech, AI, life sciences and climate technology.
Catherine was awarded a CBE in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to business. She holds a Master of Public Administration and a First Class Honours BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. She speaks several languages and has lived and worked in multiple European countries.
