I saw them in the news last year but have not done any real research. Their key IP ostensibly is low pressure hydrogen storage for drone fuel cells, which I like. However, their deck talks a lot about āAIā for managing grid level energy storage, which my broader portfolio absolutely does not need. News reports on their Orkney project also appears to confirm they are supplying AI only.
So far they are not answering questions. I have not attempted to find their two patents.
Edit: 610% now! Note they just announced theyāll close at Ā£2.5m.
Presumably all the selling points of H2Go are clear. So here are a few concerns:
Lack of competitor analysis. From their deck youād be forgiven they are the only solid state hydrogen storage show in town. That is not the case. Research on storage e.g. in metal hydrides goes back a long way and from Google I can see companies selling powder (still metal) and ammonia solutions too.
Consequent to the lack of competitor analysis, their target market and plans for making money seem unclear to me. They themselves seem undecided on whether they are targeting drones, grid storage or AI for managing hydrogen resources.
On the grid storage front, from skimming their patent and all their replies, I suspect they have not got a concrete way to scale the tech yet. A little 3D-printed reactor for a drone seems an excellent product that I could imagine using myself. A massive stack of 3D-printed reactors doesnāt sound like a grid scale solution. Maybe I am simply missing the point- but then I wish theyād communicate the tech better.
The HyAI blurb sounds like nothing special- something I could hire a recent grad (maybe MSc) to build for me.
Their numbers on the efficiency of compressed hydrogen storage and liquefaction are pessimistic compared to published research. E.g. their deck says ā<90%ā for compression yet the RWE/ITM trial claimed 93%.
Their numbers on batteries costs are pessimistic too. In the forums they clarified this included replacing the batteries every 10 years (3x), whereas their solution lasts 30 years. I just bought 10kwh of LiFePO4 batteries for around 10% of the cost quoted in their deck.
Selective answering of questions. Admittedly, some of the questions are a waste of time and as a busy founder trying to run a business I would resent answering too. However, it is part of the ECF game.
quote=āDeenoreal, post:711, topic:12984ā]
Donāt believe the hype - beware of buzz words AI, Machine learning, crypto, AR, CBD, etc. If I am going to invest in such companies the team should be expert in their fields. I once saw a CBD pitch on CC valued at Ā£20m, so I was thinking maybe they have developed some proprietary techniques but they were not even scientists but marketing guys. I stay away from such companies. There are currently a few crypto pitches with very high valuation and their justification usually is that a similar company was valued at Ā£XXm.
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Yeah I agree with that. Itās frustrating. I see it in the corporate world too- sales people come in, mention AI and/or blockchain= senior leaders cream their trousers.
Conveniently funding has closed before the Q&A session (which was only 20 mins anyway). Itās a good investor screening tactic I must say.
I do want a āfuture energyā portfolio and am excited by StorTech companies like H2Go and RheEnergise. Yet, after a little DD, both leave me thinking BP looks cheap!!
I guess thatās a rhetorical question ā¦ but for the avoidance of doubt, it looks like they want to avoid tough questions- people like me who want to give them a grilling on the tech, competitors and target market are less likely to bother joining!
hahaā¦ well, they had their revenge by rejecting my little investment.
I twice reduced my investment amount based on their unsatisfactory answers and they probably figured Iām more trouble than my investment is worth lol
I find them a weird company. Some people are technically brilliant in research and product development etc but utterly hopeless at running a business. With H2Go I canāt even evaluate if they are technically brilliant So Iām not crying over the cancelled investment but just found it strange.
I canāt believe it overfunded by so much but sometimes I think they set a low figure deliberately - artificial scarcity and all that, get people giddyā¦
ā¦ but for the avoidance of doubt, it looks like they want to avoid tough questions- people like me who want to give them a grilling on the tech, competitors and target market are less likely to bother joining!
Well played, youāre a winner!
So Iām not crying over the cancelled investment but just found it strange.