Update: Here's the real oBike founder, Shi Yi.

What is going on?

oBike has passed away suddenly in Singapore.

This has left oBike users in Singapore high and dry as many of them cannot get their S$49 deposit refunded.

Since early June 2018, oBike has been experiencing problems honouring refunds.

Some users are claiming they have been waiting for the return of their money from as long as three months ago, but to no avail or recourse.

There are allegedly one million oBike users in Singapore, according to oBike -- which means the company could be holding on to millions of dollars in deposits.

What can oBike users do?

As refunds can no longer be processed via the oBike app -- attempts to do so shows that the app cannot even be reached or connected to -- the only option left is to send angry emails to oBike at this email address: [email protected]

Or you can try contacting one of oBike's founders.

Who founded oBike?

Based on publicly available information, oBike is founded by a trio of individuals: One person named Edward Chen, who is the most visible because he responds to media, and two other directors.

Chen and another director are from Shanghai. That makes two out of three of them who hail from China. Or at least that is what information online is saying.

According to Chen's LinkedIn profile, he graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Chen's LinkedIn said he founded another start-up called Zhai.Me before oBike.

This previous platform has been described as:

... an online-to-offline (O2O) platform that allows Chinese students to buy anything online and get it delivered to them on demand. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Shanghai, China.

Prides himself as entrepreneur

Other than his LinkedIn account, a profile on CruchBase describes Chen as an idealist -- in his own words:

A go-getter with entrepreneurial aspirations, Edward started dabbling in startups after he graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with a major in the Internet of Things and Communication. With a keen interest in the sharing economy and technology, his initial startups centred around these ideas. In 2016, the green advocate in him jumped on the opportunity to start a bike-sharing service in Singapore in a bid to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emission. As such, he co-founded oBike with a few like-minded entrepreneurs, leveraging on technology to provide an alternative short-distance commute option to urbanites. Today, oBike is the leading bike-sharing company in Singapore and the biggest in Southeast Asia. Within a short span of eight months, oBike has expanded globally to 13 different countries.

However, most of these information is not substantial.

Digital News Asia wrote in August 2017, in a piece called, "Who is Edward Chen?", which was essentially asking why he was able to raise so much money in so short a time:

I could not find anything on Chen to indicate he was a successful entrepreneur in the past. I couldn’t find anything on him in relation to oBike before he appeared in its latest press release announcing its US$45 million funding round this past Friday.

Precious little is known about Chen otherwise, although his most recent lengthy interview was in Feb. 14, 2018.

In the interview with Tech Collective SEA, Chen wrote about himself in these terms:

What would you want people to remember you for, 100 years from now?

I want to be remembered for leaving an indelible mark in the world’s transportation industry. Hopefully, 100 years from now, the bike-sharing model will still continue to provide everyday convenience to commuters everywhere in the world.

His introduction to himself in the piece read:

Edward Chen is Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of oBike, Southeast Asia’s largest bike-sharing company. Edward is responsible for driving all aspects of brand building, multi-channel advertising and market research. As the Co-founder, he also drives strategic initiatives and steers the company towards innovative and sustainable growth.

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oBike's sleight-of-hand

oBike's description of itself has been rather slippery though.

Over the last 18 months of its existence in Singapore, it went from being a Chinese-owned, Singapore-based start-up, to labelling itself a "homegrown Singapore start-up".

In August 2017, after just eight months in operation, oBike raised US$45 million.

Although out of Singapore's market, it still operates in other countries.

For now.