Louis Fearn, principal at InMotion Ventures, is one of our Top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2024.
Louis Fearn is an integral member of InMotion Ventures, JLRs investment arm. After joining as an associate back in 2020, he was rewarded with a promotion to principal last June.
“The last four years have been a fascinating time to work in the automotive world. There has been real disruption across the industry, which has provided me with invaluable learning opportunities and deep sector knowledge” he says.
“My new role has given me the opportunity to take on more board positions with our portfolio and it’s been great to be invited to speak on my specialist topics at industry events.”
Fearn began his professional career as a banking analyst for Barclays before taking on a growth lead role at online job search startup TalentDesk. At InMotion, he’s built an expertise in energy and climate tech, leading investments in Gen Phoenix and Uncaged Innovations, both developers of more sustainable alternatives to the leather used in car seats.
“As we’ve broadened further into the climate tech space, I’ve taken the impetus to become our team’s sustainability lead and have built out our investment thesis.”
That specialism is expanding into carbon utilisation and flexible energy systems. Fearn led the unit’s participation in a series B round for smart charging technology provider ev.energy in July.
Although many venture investors pulled back in the past year, InMotion was as active as ever. But Fearn says he doesn’t grade himself on how many deals he does. He needs to have real conviction to chase a deal, and companies are now understanding sustainability makes economic sense.
“I’ve always really wanted to make an impact,” he says. “And I think over the past five years it’s become apparent that you don’t have to accept a lower market return from certain environmental technologies, while that was maybe more the case in the early 2000’s when a lot of people got burned by making those kinds of impact investments.”
https://globalventuring.com/corporate/publication/rising-stars-2024/
