糖心视频

, the China-based ride-hailing giant, has raised fresh capital from a corporate investor. The from further pads Didi’s coffers as some of its global rivals are flush with IPO-related proceeds; and , key ride-hailing players, raised billions each in their 2019 IPOs.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

For Didi, this is hardly its first corporate-sourced check. Didi has previously raised from , , , , , and others. To see Toyota invest $600 million is not overly surprising.

There’s a bit more to the deal than simply capital, however; the transaction should allow Toyota to bolster its ties to China, a key market for cars. Here’s :

“[T]he two companies will also set up a joint venture with GAC Toyota Motor to provide vehicle-related services to drivers on Didi鈥檚 ride-sharing platform.”

GAC (part of , , which explains the acronym) has a partnership with Toyota called, you’ve already guessed it, GAC Toyota. The collaborative effort , to give you a scale of their co-work.

Now Toyota will have a fresh deal with a China-based car company and the key Chinese ride-hailing player. Not bad for the price of a check.

Funds

Didi is a good reminder of the high costs of ride-hailing. Indeed, as we reviewed its this morning, we were surprised by how easy it is to forget how much money individual ride-hailing players have raised. Didi itself has raised tens of billions of dollars in debt and equity during its life.

Here’s a chart of聽just its known equity rounds (you can read the full list ):

There is never enough capital for ride-hailing companies trapped between pricing struggles against rivals and consumer’s wallets and the chronic costs of self-driving car wagers. Though, many ride-hailing companies are looking to outside investors to fund their autonomous efforts. Didi’s reputation has also struggled after , and . Now with more cash aboard it has further time to get its ship straight and get public.

Recall the rumors that Didi could list in 2018? It’s looking more like a 2020 affair now at the soonest.

Illustration: .