Carmen Busquets is an entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and one of the pioneers of luxury e-commerce. Over the past three decades, she has built a career identifying transformative businesses long before they became mainstream, partnering with visionary founders, and helping scale companies that have redefined industries.

In 1990, Carmen founded Cabus, one of Venezuela’s leading luxury fashion boutiques. Long before digital commerce existed, she pioneered an international pre-order model, sending sketches and Polaroids from the runways of Paris, Milan, and New York to clients around the world. That experience convinced her that the future of luxury retail would inevitably merge with technology.

A chance meeting with Natalie Massenet in 1999 led Carmen to become the largest individual private shareholder and an early founding investor in Net-a-Porter. Remaining a major shareholder until 2010, she played a pivotal role in building one of the world’s first and most successful luxury e-commerce businesses. Throughout its growth, she championed disciplined governance, operational excellence, profitability, intellectual property, and long-term value creation. During the company’s sale, she and her legal team successfully negotiated anti-dilution protections for the founder and minority shareholders, securing a stronger outcome for all.

Inspired by that success, Carmen became one of the earliest investors in the next generation of fashion and technology companies. Her portfolio includes Farfetch, Lyst, Business of Fashion (BoF), Cult Beauty, Tagwalk, Moda Operandi, and leading venture capital funds such as Susa Ventures, Felix Capital, and Giano Capital. Beyond providing capital, she has worked closely with founders as a strategic partner, helping companies refine their business models, strengthen governance, raise capital, and prepare for long-term growth.

Following her investment in Cult Beauty, Carmen became Chair of the company, working closely with the board, founders, and management team during a period of rapid international expansion. Cult beauty co founders and manager applied many of the successful principles that had contributed to Net-a-Porter’s success—including customer obsession, disciplined execution, and long-term strategic thinking—she helped guide the company through its next stage of growth during the pandemic, culminating in its successful acquisition by THG.

Alongside investing, Carmen founded CoutureLab in 2006, an innovative platform that combined luxury retail, editorial content, and craftsmanship, showcasing more than 300 artists, designers, and artisans from around the world. CoutureLab became a creative laboratory where she discovered and supported many of the entrepreneurs she would later invest in. As her investment portfolio expanded, she chose to close CoutureLab to dedicate her full attention to supporting the founders and companies she had backed. The platform reflected her lifelong belief that entrepreneurship, culture, and creativity are powerful drivers of both economic and social progress.

Today, Carmen invests selectively across finance and technology while dedicating much of her time to spiritual growth, mentoring entrepreneurs, supporting female founders, and advancing initiatives in sustainability, education, craftsmanship, and cultural preservation. Through the Carmen Busquets Foundation and her work with organizations including Glasswing International and WWF, she continues to champion projects that create long-term economic, social, and environmental impact.

Throughout her career, Carmen has remained guided by one principle: that great investing is ultimately about people. She believes capital is one of the world’s most powerful tools for creating opportunity when combined with integrity, patience, curiosity, and a long-term perspective. Her greatest measure of success is not only the financial value created, but also the entrepreneurs empowered, the jobs generated, and the lasting positive impact created.

Today, Carmen is increasingly focused on supporting institutions, entrepreneurs, and investment strategies that generate long-term value while preserving culture, craftsmanship, and the environment for future generations. She believes that business and philanthropy share the same purpose: creating opportunities that endure across generations.