oBike, the homegrown bike sharing service, has encountered more than its fair share of problems.

Like people hurling their bikes into canals.

Or more people hurling their bikes into canals.

oBike found some respite when it expanded overseas into the U.K. and Australia, as the Brits and the Aussies treated their bikes with dignity and respect... no, wait, they threw them into rivers as well.

What is it about defenceless chrome yellow bikes that incites murderous rage in random people?

Record fundraiser

But oBike's having the last laugh. It announced on Wednesday that it raised US$45 million in its latest Series B round of fundraising.

Series B refers to the point where start-ups have survived the development stage and are thinking about further expansion. Potential investors have a good feeling about the company's vision and ambitions, and they want to help it reach the next level.

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In the release, oBike's co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Edward Chen said:

“We hope to empower commuters globally with flexibility, convenience while helping them reduce their carbon footprint at the same time."

oBike's milestone is notable because most Series B fundraisers usually reach only up to around US$10 million. The US$45 million raised by oBike is one of the largest amounts raised in Southeast Asia's history.

However, e-commerce site Zalora still holds the record for raising US$100 million in its Series B fundraiser in 2013.

Show me the money

So who's betting on the company to succeed?

According to oBike, the investors include:

• Grishin Robotics, a venture capital firm founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Grishin.
• Several "family offices" in Southeast Asia.
• A mysterious unnamed "transportation platform."

The unnamed investor is interesting. It could be anyone involved in transportation (a very broad term — SMRT, SBS Transit, Uber, Grab?). It could even be the friendly robotics company, Skynet.

Whoever it is, it's their money that will soon see oBikes popping up in even more cities around the world.

If only they can find a way to make people stop treating their bikes like a big yellow crash-test dummy.

Here are some equally interesting but totally unrelated stories:

5 so-called crazy things people could do if they were given $100,000 to save the environment

Ways to make the government listen to you

How to not ruin your holiday when signing up for tour packages

Who looks after our ailing seniors outside of general hospitals?

Top image via Wikipedia