Daily Briefing: Grab launches pilot motorbike hailing in Malaysia; Bus services firm SWAT closes $14m Series A round

And a development with two shophouses is for sale at $15m.

From Reuters:

Grab has launched a pilot programme for motorbike hailing in Malaysia, barely a month after regional rival Gojek was given the green light to begin limited operations in the country. The company said on its website that the move was in line with the government’s effort to test out the service.

Malaysia announced earlier this month that it will allow motorbike-hailing services such as Indonesia’s Gojek to operate on a limited scale for six months from January next year as pilot schemes to measure demand for the service.

The six-month programme would allow the government and participating firms to gather data and evaluate demand whilst officials work on drafting legislation to govern bike-hailing.

Grab is backed by familiar names in technology sector including SoftBank Group Corp, Microsoft Corp, Toyota Motor Corp and Uber.

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From e27:

On-demand bus services firm Ministry of Movement Pte. Ltd. (SWAT) has closed $13.65m (US$10m) in its series A funding. SWAT said it plans to use the funds to grow and expand overseas.

SWAT is set to launch projects in Japan, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia by the first half of 2020.

The funding is led by the University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC), joined by investors include new investors SMRT Momentum Ventures, ComfortDelGro Ventures, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) New Ventures, EDB Investments, and LKJ Capital Japan. Pre-Series A investors iGlobe Platinum Fund II and the Goldbell Group family office reinvested in this round.

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From iCompareLoan:

Victory Point, a development comprising a 2-storey conservation shophouse with an attic and a 6-storey rear apartment block, has been put on sale at an indicative price of $14.7m, JLL announced. This reflected a $1,390 psf on the estimated gross floor area (GFA).

The property has a land area of approximately 3,463 sf and an estimated GFA of 10,609 sqft. The conserved section of the property currently houses a 24-hour convenience store on the ground floor, with the second storey and the attic for office use. The rear residential block with nine apartments is wholly leased to a master tenant. Nine mechanised carpark lots are also housed in the building.

Read more here.