Jaguar Land Rover has invested $25 million in Lyft through its InMotionVentures investment arm.
The funding was part of Lyft's $600 million Series G round which closed in April.
InMotionVentures is based in the UK and invests in established businesses in the mobility and smart transport space. It has an incubator arm which provides pre-seed funding and hands-on support to early stage start-ups.
It recently provided seed capital to Detroit-based ride-sharing platform SPLT, which is developing a niche for medical transportation. It also pumped $1 million into another specialist ride-sharing brand - family-focused carpool app GoKid.
A statement said:
"This investment will support Lyft’s expansion and technology plans. It will also provide Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures with the opportunity to develop and test its mobility services, including autonomous vehicles, and to supply Lyft drivers with a fleet of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles."
With Lyft valued at a reported $7.5 billion when the Series G closed, Jaguar's stake is negligible as an investment compared with the potential around co-operation.
But it fits with the ongoing trend for manufacturers to get closer to the ride-sharing/carpooling/taxi app sector as the chatter intensifies around how these businesses could seriously impact the established norms of car ownership, if they haven't already.
A recent global survey from CapGemini found that more than one in three car buyers see ride sharing apps as a genuine alternative to car ownership.
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