Toyota Motor Corporation has bought a share of US-based electric car maker Tesla Motors as part of a joint development.
Toyota has agreed to buy $50m of common shares in Tesla once the company has floated.
The flotation date and size has not been revealed but Tesla signed up Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank in January to manage the initial public offering, just after agreeing $465m in loans from the US government.
Akio Toyoda, president of Japan-based Toyota, which makes the hybrid Prius car, said: "Through this partnership, by working together with a venture business such as Tesla, Toyota would like to learn from the challenging spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility that Tesla has. Decades ago, Toyota was also born as a venture business. By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business spirit,’ and take on the challenges of the future."
Last May, Germany-based car maker Daimler bought nearly 10% of Tesla for an undisclosed sum. Tesla is the only production automaker selling a highway capable electric vehicle in North America and Europe.
Daimler was also part of Tesla’s $82.5m series F round in September, which also saw Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Aabar Investments and London-based clean-tech venture capital firm Fjord Capital Partners join the financing, according to Dow Jones VentureWire.
The company previously raised nearly $200m in venture financing, according to VentureWire archives, including from VCs Capricorn Management, Compass Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, JP Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund, Technology Partners, Valor Equity Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Westly Group.