So glad I missed out on Grind,I never had the money at the time.
Thanks Iāll take a look.
Believe it or not Grind are actually doing quite good. I think they were around break even before pandemic and are now around break even having completely switched up their model in response to whatās going on. I guess people who spend Ā£5 a day on hot water with beans in it are gonna do that whether they are stuck at work or stuck at home 
Here is a snippet of what the CEO sent investors at end of december:
"Earlier this year in April, I reported that the lockdowns had helped supercharge the growth in our online retail business, where we sell coffee tins and pods to customers via grind.co.uk. At the time we reported that the business had grown significantly. Iām pleased to report that sales through this new channel have remained incredibly strong throughout 2020, and have grown further.
We have also built substantially on our online subscriber base, and our subscription business is now very meaningful in its own right. Having sold tens of thousands of coffee tins, and millions of coffee pods since March, this side will offset a significant part of the damage done to high street business. What is very encouraging is that this huge growth has been achieved profitably. Our online business is discussed in more detail below. That we now expect to deliver similar levels of sales this year as last year, in the context of the pandemic and the closures on the high street, is an incredible result."
(This is just a snip of the update minus financials and possibly sensitive infoā¦ i dont want to ruffle any feathers!)
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I also invested into Grind and think they will come out of this extremely strongly, as things open up (hopefully permanently) in the summer. People are like coiled springs right now and itching to get back out and spend / live it up a little. Second half of year will feel like boom times again.
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Grind was my second ever crowdfunding investment (after Monzo), and I think they are doing the correct actions in response to the pandemic. Iām confident they will continue to grow and will be successful in the new reality.
Ive invested into Goodbox and Freetrade.
Pre-Covid Goodbox seemed like a good idea where people could simply and quickly donate to charity, however, with everyone stuck at home and loosing their jobs charity donations will have dropped.
I can imagine that most charities will be struggling right now. Thankfully for me it was only a small postion.
On the other hand I am pleased about my investment into Freetrade, they appear to be going from strength to strength just wish I invested more but heyho I will wait for Round 7.
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I invested in goodbox too. They took a big hit early corona and had to do an emergency fundraise before all the government help was online, tanking their valuation. I topped up my investment then somewhat. Looks like thereās good (embargoed) funding news on the way if you read their latest update.
Not entirely certain of the firm, but Iām Ok with it. I invested after seeing contactless donation points at all major museums/galleries. Only after investing did I find out a bunch of different firms have similar offerings like Paya and Payter Charity.
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Have you seen Rhenergise on Crowdcube. 653% over funding with 17 days left. The write up did seem impressive and theyāve answered investors questions well.
I was taking a look at Rhenergise last night actually, it does look like a good business havenāt fully read into but definitely a company Iām going to read up more about. I donāt have enough knowledge in the area so would love to hear other peoples thoughts!
I also put a tiny bit into bitstocks ,the CEO was the main reason I invested and the future will definitely be more involved with crypto.
As with all crowdfunding investments I mentally try to write the amount invested off and hope to be pleasantly surprised in the future.
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This is an excellent way to think about crowdfunding. From what I have invested and have seen pitched, the hit ratio is extremely small 
There are only a few real gems.
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Deep breathā¦
I really wanted to love RheEnergise and was considering a serious investment. The whole thing has been a source of angst for me this past week LOL. I avoided naming them above but RheEnergise were the pitch I had in mind when saying the founders had a good idea but are overstating the benefits.
After the Graun printed their puff piece and funding went berserk I did make a small FOMO-driven investment. Nearly Ā£700k and media exposure opens new doors and buys time (potentially allowing pivots if needed). Further, I hope it will make them realise that with great power [money] comes great responsibility and address some points below.
Sharing so you can say Iām wrong
The overall message is misleading
The picture in their deck and general message about the little buried tank in a hill being equivalent to traditional pumped hydro forgot GCSE physics.
Consider the side-by-side comparison diagram in the Guardian article (Source: RheEnergise) with both turbines labelled 50MW and drawn the same size. Anyone skimming might think the RheEnergise system capacity on the right is supposed to be equivalent to the traditional hydro on the left in terms of energy storage. The traditional hydro on the left has 4x the energy storage.
Iām not a CFD guy, materials engineer, rheologist or chemist. If I canāt trust the GCSE part it feels a pure gamble whether theyāll deliver the super sludge turbine.
Their chosen target of 10-50MW lacks supporting analysis
Bottom end: I accept their point that at the bottom end turbo efficiency drops off. Grid connection becomes less worthwhile. The UK capacity auctions do go down to 500KW (I think) but it seems a reluctant after thought. They said good efficiency starts around 5MW and they want to run a pair (pretty common I think) for maintenance. Also, even they admit batteries become more attractive at smaller sizes. So, I donāt have massive problems with the lower end but vaguely feel that bigger farms and estates might be happy to get a 500kw unit even if itās not quite as efficient. Also, smaller tanks that can cope with the pressure of Rh19 (2.5x water) seem relatively more cost effective. They can also be hidden in trees.
Note the tank photos they post are all in the bottom range. The Highgate one is like a paddling pool, 5.5MWh.
Upper end (50MW): Theyāre not burying artificial tanks big enough to deliver that. End of story.
I posted a photo of a tank needed for the mid range, around 100m litres: Viva Energyās largest tank in Australia starts work | Tank News International . Unless Iām missing something nobody is burying tanks that size purely for cosmetic reasons- hills, ports or anywhere. The tank in that photo cost c$40m. They need two of them. Nowhere have they discussed the cost. I invited them to share cheaper options but they didnāt reply. Reinforced concrete with banks would be cheaper, yes. Exploiting natural features or disused mines and developing some lining would also be cheaper. But not cheap per se.
They have never given sensible costings
Not for tanks, turbines (development or manufacturing), Rh19, anything.
There is no serious comparison to traditional open hydro costs either. Rh19 pipes can be smaller but they need to withstand the same pressure. Grid connection costs the same. Generator costs the same. Turbine- Iāll be amazed if they can ever compete on price with the big established players. All this ignores cost of Rh19 and system licensing.
Iām amazed nobody questioned them more on this.
I disagree that they answered all questions well
They pretended not to understand when I first asked about scale and required tank capacity. They plain ignored my early question on production logistics. They ignored another personās question on founder track record (more on that below). They posted numbers and claimed they corresponded to a photo in the update and then accused me of taking them āreally literallyā when I questioned them. They plain ignored my (I think) fair questions/analysis of their cost claim on the south German wind+PSH combo.
Admittedly, and to their credit some topics were dealt with well.
They downplay batteries
Understandable and from an environmental perspective Iām not a fan of batteries. However, from an investment perspective I think batteries will soon eat the low end of their 10-50MW range. E.g., a few weeks ago Total/Saft opened a 25MW bank in Dunkirk. 20 year design life not 10, each is 2.5MWh, size of a shipping container. https://www.energy-storage.news/news/frances-biggest-battery-storage-system-at-25mw-goes-into-operation Saft have been around a long time- theyāre surely being optimistic but I doubt theyād outright lie.
At least two cofounders have defaulted renewable companies
I feel really awkward making this point because I strongly believe itās possible to learn from past mistakes. The experience and connections can be essential to future success. Things can go wrong through no fault of your own (I tell myself that at least 
). Hence I donāt consider this a show stopper at all and wouldnāt want anyone reading to either. I am only mentioning the point because:
- They didnāt answer the question on founder track record
- Their previous ventures appear to have had slightly optimistic claims
- Thereās a remarkably coincidence that neither companies are linked to the present companies house director profiles. There are genuine reasons this might happen of course.
Team generally
Iām disappointed we havenāt seen more of the teamās skills showcased and which problem each will tackle. I assume Cochraneās taking turbine design. Looks like he might know solidworks but thereās material choice, longevity testing, blah blah. Weāre asking a lot of them and itās not clear all the work can be handled in house.
Anyway I got bored of typing.
Summary: I suspect that the person who invested Ā£75k is throwing their money away. I invested the equivalent of a few eveningsā entertainment, which it has certainly given me
[edit for typos]
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I invested in gravitricity on Crowdcube which I feel will be a far cheaper option and more profitable not to mention better for the environment.
I was very tempted by RheEnergise,but two things made me feel uncomfortable from the beginning and that was dragging the liquid back UP the hill at x2.5 the weight,I can only see maintenance problems to be never ending and also the liquid attaching itself to the machinery over time. I predict failure for RheEnergise
Great analysis, agree it sounds fishy, 2.5x density doesnāt instantly mean 2.5x power for many reasons, otherwise others would just switch.
Personally these solutions upset me. They essentially use cheap off-peak energy to pump the water/liquid up the hill, then let it run down during peak times to skim profits. The fluff about it being eco ignores all the fossil fuel power needed to keep it running. Worth a trip to electric mountain in Wales if you havenāt been.
Gravitricity, Iām no expert in this area but this idea will go nowhere.
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Time will tell???
I did a work placement at Ffestiniog, owned by the same company as Dinorwic (Electric Mountain). Thereās some seriously cool bits of kit in there - I got to crawl around inside the turbine of a drained unit.
The advantage of pumped storage is the fast response time (~20 seconds from spinning idle to full load) compared to conventional thermal plants. With the increased use of batteries with a near-instantaneous response, this niche is being eroded.
Even if your reservoirs can be 2.5 times smaller, for any useful size the cost of construction would be massive. Iām not sure what the spread between day and night electricity costs are, but I am guessing it would take decades to repay - unless they are going to rely on āgreenā grants.
Itās a neat idea but Iāll be watching from the sidelines.
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My 3 on CC:
Freetrade
Patch plants
Finisterre
So far, so good with Freetrade. Feel very lucky to have this forum and everyoneās contributions to provide a sense of being part of the journey. The others arenāt bad at all with updates - but you never really know whatās going on and how theyāre doingā¦ So much more of a āfingers crossedā experience.
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I have these 3 too. Patch share ok updates. Have not seen any updates from Freetrade since investing in the last round. Finisterre is an odd one. I kind of regret investing as the retail space is tough BUT I love how they are building a brand that has strong core values and these could be attractive to a buyer.
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Iām in for Finisterre also. They will be massive,any company that can still make a profit while about 12 shops were closed and also before they open up in the USA IN 2022. Also the only outdoor clothing company fully certified BCorp in Europe. They are way ahead of the times and will do very well if you are patient maybe in the next 3-5 years. I am looking for at least x6 on my investment.
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I got some Finisterre, it was the last one I did before I pretty much gave up. Iām not sure about massive, but I do think theyāll be successful. and they sent me a hat which was nice 
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