Strides Taxi will merge with Premier Taxis to create Singapore’s second-largest taxi operator, while Southeast Asian music games publisher Amanotes has backed Sweden’s Reactional Music.
Merger to create new entity Strides Premier
Strides Taxi, owned by Singapore’s public transport operator SMRT, will merge with premium taxi service Premier Taxis to create Singapore’s second-largest taxi operator, according to a release.
After the merger, a new joint venture company, Strides Premier, will be formed. Strides Holdings, the parent company of Strides Taxi, will hold a majority stake in the new entity. Premier Corporation, the parent company of Premier Taxis, and BS Investors will jointly hold the remaining stake.
“After acquiring Premier Taxis last year, we see this merger as an opportunity for further growth. We are committed to serve our existing customers better and to attract more to join us in this competitive P2P market,” Raymond Ng, founder of BS Capital Group.
Strides Premier will be working closely with the National Taxi Association (NTA) and National Transport Workers Union to engage existing drivers and staff of all the entities involved in the merger. All current rental agreements of private hire cars, taxis, limousines, and private cars will be unaffected.
Butterfly Ventures backs Reactional Music
Vietnam- and Singapore-based music games publisher Amanotes has backed Sweden-based interactive music platform Reactional Music’s pre-Series A funding round, according to a release.
Amanotes led the funding round along with deep-tech VC firm Butterfly Ventures. Angel investors, including Reactional Music chairman Kelly Sumner; a former chairman of Mediatonic; the CEO of Red Octane; and CEO of Take 2 Interactive; participated in the funding.
The company will use the funding to deliver the Reactional beta platform and SDK for developers to continue its music licensing operations and scaling of the Reactional team across development, technical support, and music supervision.
“This strategic investment allows us to take our music gaming applications to the next level. We are excited to see the impact it will have on our fans worldwide,” said Bill Vo, CEO and co-founder of Amanotes.
Reactional is a rules-based music engine and delivery platform that connects the music and games industries allowing any music to be brought into a game and the entire game’s visuals, music, and sound to react live to that music.
The games market is expected to pass $200 billion revenue in 2023. In-game purchases accounted for 74% of all games revenue in 2021 at around $129 billion. In 2023, the total number of global gamers is expected to pass 3 billion.