oBike Might Be Coming Back with a New Owner But Refunds Still Unknown

By
George Yang
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With ofo’s impending demise and its ghosting of users, you’d think that everyone has lost complete confidence in this industry.

In fact, calling it an “industry” might be an overstatement as it feels more like a fad.

It all began in January 2017 when oBike started operations in Singapore, followed by ofo and Mobike in quick succession. Slowly, more companies jumped on the bandwagon, but they all came and went, leaving the market for three main players that pioneered the industry: oBike, ofo and Mobike.

And come January 2019, both oBike and ofo have disappeared in the same manner, ghosting users and tainting the country yellow with their unused bikes.

Just when we thought that bike-sharing is over and move on to look at e-scooter-sharing, a knight in shining armour has come in to revive the industry.

Or would he?

Recap of oBike Story

Back in June 2018, oBike suddenly announced its departure from the Singapore market due to the impending new licensing framework then.

However, the seeds have been sown earlier: an app update removed the “Refund” button, they became uncontactable and people were unable to get back their refunds.

Bikes were removed by the authorities and the founders haven’t been very proactive in solving the problem: they merely made a few promises that didn’t seem to materialise.

And worst of all, the company allegedly transferred $10 million to its Hong Kong counterpart before it shut down, leading to a police investigation for alleged misappropriation of funds.

Then, there has been no more news about them.

New Development: Someone Has Been Eyeing the Company

However, the trusty TODAYonline came out with another exclusive report.

Meet Singapore-based Costa Rican Oscar Moises Chaves.

His family used to run a textile-manufacturing company and after selling it off, they got hundreds of millions of dollars.

With that kind of monies, he started an investment company.

He had seen the potential of bike-sharing, and one month before the sudden demise of oBike, he was in Shanghai to bring the oBike franchise to South America.

Of course, we all know that one month later, oBike shocked us and popularised the hashtag #ReturnMyDeposit

Apparently, during this period, oBike then got back to Chaves. Chaves offered to take over the company and oBike agreed, provided that he settles all its debts.

And so, during the hoo-ha period, Chaves became its majority shareholder with 66.9% of its global operations.

However, that excludes the Singapore operations, which has a debt of at least SGD$1.7 million (including user deposits that requested for refunds).

Now he’s looking forward to pay off its debts, but would need a breakdown of the amount owed, saying, “You can’t expect me to just give (money) without seeing what I’m paying for. No one does that… everyone checks their invoices to pay.”

So, if Chaves holds majority shares in its global operations, then he should know about the alleged $10 million that was transferred from the Singapore operations to the Hong Kong operations?

Surprisingly, when he took over the Hong Kong operations, he did not see the $10 million.

So juicy, indeed.

Next Meeting with Creditors on 23 January 2019

oBike liquidators are going to meet with oBike’s creditors on 23 January 2019 to “address any and all queries”, and they will also provide update about the wind-up.

With a new (rich) owner, this could only mean one thing: we’re most likely going to see yellow bikes on the streets again.

Over in TikTok, there’s a drama involving property agents that’s caused by us. Here’s what happened:

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]