Daily Briefing: Temasek co-leads beauty tech platform Social Bella's $55.71m series D round; Over 5,000 families failed to get a BTO flat

And 555 vegetation fires were recorded in the first half of the year.

From e27:

Temasek co-led beauty e-commerce platform company Social Bella Indonesia’s $55.71m (US$40m) Series D round along with EV Growth, an announcement revealed.

New investors such as Singapore-based EDBI, Pavilion Capital, and Jungle Ventures also joined the round.

The startup will use the funding to strengthen its human resources capabilities, with particular attention on technology-related functions.

Social Bella has previously closed its Series C funding led by EV Growth, a joint venture fund by East Ventures, SMDV, and Yahoo! Japan Capital. istyle, a publicly-listed beauty-tech company from Japan, and UOB Ventures, also participated in last year’s Series C round.

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From PropertyGuru:

A total of 5,190 first-timer families have been unsuccessful in their attempt to apply for a flat during two Build-to-Order (BTO) exercises held in 2018.

In a written answer to Parliament on Monday (2 September), the Ministry of National Development (MND) revealed that about 990 and 4,200 first-timer families were unsuccessful in their application for a flat during the August and November 2018 BTO exercises.

The number of unsuccessful applicants for the BTO exercises in February and May are not yet available given that flat selections are still ongoing, as said.

Nonetheless, the ministry noted that first-timer families who have been unsuccessful in two applications for homes within non-mature estates received an additional ballot chance per subsequent application in such estates.

When asked whether it will raise the income ceilings, the ministry explained that about eight in 10 Singaporeans are able to purchase a subsidised flat at the present income ceiling of $12,000, and households earning up to $14,000 can buy an executive condominium (EC) from property developers.

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From Channel News Asia:

There were 555 vegetation fires in Singapore in the first half of this year, a 56% increase from the 356 cases in the same period last year, said Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam on Monday (2 September).

Shanmugam was responding to a question submitted in Parliament by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perera, who had asked what measures were being taken to ensure the early detection of vegetation fires and the efficient deployment of resources to handle them.

In his written reply, Shanmugam noted that the number of vegetation fires has risen in recent years due to factors such as drier and hotter weather.

The inter-agency Wildfire Task Force Committee, which is led by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), is tasked with coordinating measures to minimise the risk of vegetation fires, he said.

Read more here.