InMotion, Jaguar Land Rover’s corporate venture capital arm, appoints Mike Smeed as Managing Director

• Mike Smeed joins InMotion from China-based joint venture Chery Jaguar Land Rover  
• InMotion provides investment and expertise to disruptive start-ups in key sectors 
• Open Innovation is central to delivering Jaguar Land Rover’s Reimagine strategy 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: InMotion Ventures (InMotion), the corporate venture capital arm of Jaguar Land Rover, has appointed Mike Smeed as Managing Director, with the fund playing a key part in the Company’s recently launched Open Innovation strategy. 

By collaborating with start-ups, scale-ups and like-minded external organisations, Open Innovation is a fundamental building block of Jaguar Land Rover’s Reimagine strategy to become the creator of the world’s most desirable modern luxury vehicles and experiences for its clients, transforming into an electric-first business, leader in services and technology and carbon net zero company by 2039. 

InMotion, launched in 2016, has already invested in start-ups across key Open Innovation areas, such as autonomy, connectivity, electrification, sustainability, fintech, and intelligent enterprise.  

Providing expertise and resources to founders to help them scale, it backs start-ups across all stages. Previous investments include Circulor, the supply chain visibility platform; By Miles, the usage-based insurance provider; Ascend Elements, a battery recycling company; and Carmoola, the mobile first solution for vehicle finance. 

Smeed joins from Chery Jaguar Land Rover, a Shanghai-based joint venture between Jaguar Land Rover and Chinese car manufacturer Chery Automobile Co., where he was the Vice President of Finance. He brings a wealth of experience enabling growth in multinational environments and is well versed in managing relationships between large corporations and disruptive high-growth business units.   

Commenting on his appointment, Smeed said: “Jaguar Land Rover’s Open Innovation strategy is putting innovation at the heart of the business, bringing new thinking and opportunities, helping accelerate the delivery of the company’s Reimagine strategy. An established Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm is key to achieving its objectives. InMotion Ventures has an excellent reputation in the market, with an enviable portfolio today, and this is a fantastic opportunity to lead the fund to further success as we closer align with the business’ transformation plans.” 

Igor Murakami, Director New Services, Software and Open Innovation for Jaguar Land Rover, welcomed Smeed’s arrival saying: “InMotion is a key component of our global Open Innovation programme to accelerate the delivery of Jaguar Land Rover Reimagine strategy. Under Mike’s leadership the Corporate Venture Capital team will identify and invest in start-ups working in the territories of electrification, connectivity, digital services, intelligent enterprise, sustainability and metaverse that will be critical in creating new value chains for the business.” 

Smeed, who joins the recent hiring of Sam Nasrolahi as Principal, will oversee InMotion’s continued investment in transformative and disruptive mobility start-ups, maximising opportunities through Open Innovation, and delivering mutual value to InMotion and Jaguar Land Rover.

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About InMotion Ventures 

Powered by Jaguar Land Rover, InMotion Ventures makes strategic investments into innovative, high-growth companies building a sustainable future for the automotive industry. InMotion invests in startups across the globe, typically between Seed to Series C and notable past investments have included Lyft (exited in 2019), Ascend Elements, Circulor and Apex AI.  

For more information contact: Lulu@fieldhouseassociates.com  

About Jaguar Land Rover: Reimagining the future of modern luxury by design. 

Jaguar Land Rover’s Reimagine strategy is delivering a sustainability-rich vision of modern luxury by design. Our class-leading, modern luxury Range Rover, Discovery, Defender and Jaguar vehicles are in demand around the world, with over 370,000 sold in 123 countries during fiscal year 2021/22. Electrified models accounted for around two thirds of units sold, thanks to a model range that embraces fully electric and hybrid electric technologies, as well as the latest petrol and diesel engines. 

We are transforming our business to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products and operations by 2039 and have set a roadmap to reduce emissions across our own operations and value chains by 2030 through approved, science-based targets. Electrification is central to this strategy, and all Jaguar and Land Rover nameplates will be available in pure electric form by the end of the decade. 

At heart we are a British company, with two major design and engineering sites, three vehicle manufacturing facilities, an Engine Manufacturing Centre and a Battery Assembly Centre in the UK. We also have vehicle plants in China, Brazil, India, Austria and Slovakia, as well as seven technology hubs across the globe. 

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors since 2008, Jaguar Land Rover has unrivalled access to leading global players in technology and sustainability within the wider Tata Group. 

Jaguar Land Rover PR social channels: – Twitter: @JaguarLandRover – LinkedIn: @JaguarLandRover 

For more information visit www.media.jaguarlandrover.com or contact:  
Salman Sultan | Jaguar Land Rover | Email: ssultan1@jaguarlandrover.com
Farah Hamam | Ogilvy Public Relations | Email: JLR.MENA@ogilvy.com