I've seen some cases where companies incubate startups in-house, in exchange for some equity :) and even invest in them. I don't know about the specific case,

I've seen some cases where companies incubate startups in-house, in exchange for some equity :) and even invest in them. I don't know about the specific case, but a 4-year old startup should have enough cash to spend a little in a small seed capital.