Daily Briefing: Singapore, Malaysia settle arrangements for cross-border travel; Fewer COEs available from August to October

And Hiip receives funding from Vulpes.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

Singapore and Malaysia have settled arrangements for cross-border travel between both countries, but are not yet ready to allow daily commuting, said Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.

This follows Balakrishnan’s meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Hishammuddin Hussein.

The pair had met at the mid-way point of the Johor-Singapore Causeway to discuss arrangements on the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA), ahead of the implementation of the two schemes on 10 August.

"I'm pleased to report that both sides have settled the arrangements for the Reciprocal Green Lane as well as for what we call the Periodic Commuting Arrangement, so all the details have been settled (and) applications will open on 10 August, and in the next few days we will publish the operational details," said Balakrishnan.

However, he stressed that these arrangements do not provide for daily commuting on the land crossings between Singapore and Malaysia as both countries are not ready for that yet.

Read more here. 

From ChannelNewsAsia:

The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) quota for August to October will be 18,626 for August to October, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

This is a drop from the 19,055 COEs available from February to April.

Category A will have a quota of 5,903 from August to October whilst Category B will have a quota of 5,188 from August to October.

Goods vehicles and buses in category C will have a COE quota of 2,023, with an average monthly quota of 674.

Meanwhile, the quota for motorcycles in category D will be 2,802, a decline from 3,465 in the last quarter. It works out to an average monthly quota of 934.

COEs in the open category, which can be used for all vehicles except motorcycles, will have a quota of 2,710, up from 1,967 in the previous quarter.

Bidding under this quota starts on 3 August.

Read more here. 

From e27:

Singapore-based influencer platform Hiip has secured an undisclosed sum in a bridge round of funding.

Vulpes Special Opportunities Fund led the funding round. Other unnamed investors also participated.

Hiip said they will use the funds to take advantage of potential acquisition opportunities that have arisen as a result of COVID-19.

Hiip is an influencer platform in Southeast Asia that claims to be helping 500 brands to connect and work with more than 10,000 social influencers based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. The company has offices in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

Read more here.