President of Go-Jek, Andre Soelistyo announced on Nov. 14 that selected Singaporeans will be able to start booking rides on Go-Jek Singapore's beta app before Christmas.

To clarify: The screenshots in the cover photo above are from Go-Jek's Indonesian app. Go-Jek's Singapore app is not yet released.

Soelistyo made the announcement about the beta launch at the Singapore Fintech Festival.

However, he did not mention when Go-Jek will officially launch here.

The company will be using the beta-testing period to "(optimise their) operations to better satisfy customers". 

Driver demand

Earlier this week, Soelistyo mentioned that the beta launch will take place "within the coming weeks".

According to him, there is "a lot of demand" for Go-Jek's services here.

Many local drivers have expressed interest via social media.

Pre-registration of drivers

The Indonesian company recently launched a pre-registration exercise for drivers who wish to join the platform.

Onboarding for drivers has already started, according to the SMS sent out by Go-Jek to registrants and onboarding FAQs have been published on Go-Jek's site.

Soelistyo also said, separately, that "the response from the driver community since [Go-Jek] opened pre-registration has been overwhelming".

Incentive war

As its entry looms closer, Go-Jek and its rival, Grab, have been pitting themselves head to head, starting with incentives:

The two companies also recently announced strategic partnerships with banks -- Grab with UOB and Go-Jek with DBS -- in order to offer payment services with special privileges such as direct-from-account wallet top-ups and co-branded credit cards.

Both companies are also aggressively seeking investment funding in order to expand their reach across Southeast Asia.

Go-Jek is attempting to raise USD$2 billion, while Grab recently announced that it successfully raised USD$2 billion in its latest financing round.

The latter also said that it is is going to devote a significant portion of that funding into its foray into Indonesia, Go-Jek's home-ground.

Top images are from the Indonesian Go-Jek app. It can be downloaded in Singapore but its services are not made available here.