Plus, Clifford Chance launches innovation lab and South Korea explores maritime blockchain programme

Hundreds line up outside Ofo to demand return on deposits — [South China Morning Post]

Concerned about the future of Ofo, hundreds of Chinese residents travelled to the corporate headquarters in Beijing on Monday to demand a refund of their deposits, according to the South China Morning Post.

The so-called bank run was prompted by media reports that people could receive their deposit more quickly if they visited the office in-person. Typically, it takes 15 days to receive a refund on the deposit but users have been complaining that it has not been returned.

Ofo is struggling with finances, which the SCMP highlighted by pointing to various lawsuits from manufacturers who are not getting their bills paid on time.

Law firm Clifford Chance launches innovation lab — [Press Release]

Clifford Chance, a milti-national law firm, announced today the launch of its new innovation lab in Singapore called Create+65. The goal of is to incubate, test and hopefully integrate new legal tech tools that Clifford Chance hopes it can pass on to clients.

The programme is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Future Law Innovation Porgramme (which is under Singapore Academy of Law).

“In line with Singapore’s aspiration to be at the forefront of technology and innovation in the legal sector, Create+65 builds on our ongoing commitment to contribute to an ecosystem of collaboration and innovation as we anticipate the increasing pace of change,” said Singapore Managing Partner Kai Schneider in a statement.

Startups can register their interest here.

Aeon is partnering Go-Jek to help proliferate its O2O strategy in Indonesia — [e27]

Aeon, a Japanese homegrown retail group announced that it will partner with Indonesia’s ride-hailing unicorn Go-Jek to go all-in on digital payments and home delivery. The service as part of its overseas expansion, as reported by Nikkei Asia Review.

The two companies will begin the collaboration sometime in the middle of this month.

Aeon will accept payments using Go-Pay by Go-Jek, starting in its two malls in Jakarta, Indonesia. That will be followed by a home deliveries option using Go-Jek drivers.

Moglix nabs US$23 million Series C — [e27}

India-based B2B commerce company Moglix has secured US$23 million in Series C round of funding, led by existing investors Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

Venture Highway, Shailesh Rao (former VP at Twitter and Google), and InnoVen Capital also participated in the round.

The company plans to deploy the raised fund to expand to newer markets and geographies besides increasing its logistics network and supply chain across India. It also continues to beef up its integrated digital supply chain technology solutions with data science and machine-learning capabilities.

South Korea exploring blockchain for marine logistics — [CoinDesk]

The South Korean government, keen to make the shipping industry more efficient, is exploring blockchain as a means to achieve its goal.

The trial will begin this month in Busan with the goal of piloting projects that provide real-time information sharing between businesses. It will go for the next year.

Assuming the trial goes well in Busan, the government will expand the programme across South Korea.

—

The post Today’s top tech news, December 18: A bank run on Ofo and Go-Jek partners Aeon appeared first on e27.