Daily Briefing: Entropica Labs snags $2.6m in seed funding; Parts of Singapore racecourse to be converted into recovery facilities

And IKEA’s first small-store concept in SEA to open at Jem.

From TechInAsia:

Quantum computing software startup, Entropica Labs, has raised $2.6m (US$1.8m) in a seed funding round led by VC firm, Elev8, according to an announcement.

Other participating investors include SGInnovate, Wavemaker Partners, Lim Teck Lee Group, Japanese software firm TIS Inc, V1 Capital, and Entrepreneur First.

The startup said it plans to use the new funds primarily to expand its technical team and further develop its proprietary software architectures.

Right now, Entropica’s software roadmap is said to be centred around its Entropy Development Framework, which allows both developers and users to work together on building quantum computing workflows.

Entropica has been working with global quantum hardware majors, such as IBM, Microsoft, and Rigetti Computing, to get early access to quantum computing resources and platforms.

Read more here.

From Channel News Asia:

Some areas of the Singapore racecourse at Kranji will be temporarily converted into community recovery facilities for foreign workers recovering from COVID-19, according to the Singapore Turf Club.

Construction to convert the multi-storey car park and car park B at the racecourse, as well as the sheltered arena at the Singapore Turf Club Riding Centre, into recovery facilities is scheduled to be completed by the end of May.

They will be demarcated as restricted zones with no access to the public.

Patients who remain well on the 14th day of the illness can be transferred to such community recovery facilities, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Some of these facilities have been set up at six military camps across Singapore, with a maximum capacity of 5,300 patients.

The health ministry said on Apr 28 that plans were in place to have more than 10,000 beds at such facilities by the end of June.

Read more here.

From Channel News Asia:

Home furnishing store IKEA will open a new small-store concept at Jem in 2021, according to an announcement.

The new small-store concept will span three floors in the shopping mall at 6,500 sqm.

The mall's landlord, Landlease said IKEA is a replacement tenant for Robinsons, which is set to close its Jem outlet by the end of August.

This will make it the third IKEA store in Singapore, with the other two at Tampines and Alexandra. The two stores are said to attract close to 7 million visits a year.

Read more here.