Also, a Singaporean food delivery startup gets hygiene downgrade and some deals were inked in India

Monday is nearly over, and as you wrap up the first day back to work, make sure you’ve got up on the latest news in the startup world. We broke down five of the most important.

Number of Singaporean taxis sitting idle doubles over 12 months

Ride-hailing services Grab and Uber continue to take a chunk out the traditional taxi industry as the percentage of the taxis that go unrented nearly-doubled over the last year, according to The Straits Times.

On average, 9.1 per cent of a Singaporean taxi-fleet will not be rented by a driver and sit in the lot. This number is almost twice the amount from last year (5 per cent) and amounts to about 2,400 cars being unused every day.

In the city, drivers must rent out their vehicles for the day, which can range anywhere from S$60 (US$43) to over S$100 (US$73).

Also Read: Uber to suspend operations in Macau due to regulatory hurdle

Grab and Uber have proven to be strong, and stubborn, competition to the taxi-industry (even through Grab does offer an option to hail traditional taxis via the app).

Singapore food delivery startup Grain gets hygiene downgrade after food poisoning incident

The National Environmental Agency has downgraded the hygiene rating for Singapore food delivery startup Grain after 20 people got sick from eating a Grain meal. The company has accepted full responsibility and apologised.

The rating was downgraded from ‘A’ to ‘C’ and will be reviewed in 12 months. The dish in question was a Thai Green Curry and the company has provided, “compensation and following up in-person until we were confident that all concerns had been heard.”

Also Read: Trump immigration ban and its implications for asian entrepreneurs

It is now working with the government to shore up its hygiene lapses.

Uber shareholders rumoured to be selling stock to Softbank

Benchmark Capital, an early-stage VC firm with a portfolio that includes Instagram, Snapchat, Dropbox and Uber, is rumoured to be selling some of its shares in the ride-hailing company to Softbank.

As reported by Bloomberg, Benchmark was the firm that led the charge in ousting Travis Kalanick back in June.

Uber has over 500 investors and the deal could be a strategy to infuse more money into the startup.

Thailand restaurant reservation startup eatigo acquires Ressy to expand into India

eatigo, a Bangkok-based startup that helps people book restaurant reservations online, announced today it has launched in Mumbai and Pune, India through an acquisition of Ressy.

Ressy offered a similar service in India. The deal adds India to a list of countries that includes Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In 2015, the startup raised a ‘multi-million dollar’ Series A.

eatigo is backed by TripAdvisor.

A traditional Indian insurance company has raised cash to fund its online play

Ideal Insurance Brokers, an 11-year-old Kolkata-based company that offers a full-suite of insurance products, announced it has raised an undisclosed sum of cash to launch its online insurance option 121 Policy. It will begin as a health insurance platform before eventually adding motor, life and other services.

The investor is Xelpmoc is a startup incubator and advertises itself as a place to for developers to build/upgrade their platforms.

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