Water to Go returns to Crowdcube after 4 years. How have they done?

Water to Go raised £191k on Crowdube in 2014. Its filtered water bottles promised the earth but have since failed to deliver much apart from £1.15m of accumulated losses. Now they are back on Crowdcube at the same valuation as 2014.

We wouldnt bother to highlight this new pitch of theirs had they been a little more honest. Their new Crowdcube pitch hardly mentions the 2014 raise - it gets a line about how oversubscribed it was. What investors want to know guys is how you have done in 4 years - what have you achieved and the honest reason you are now looking for new cash. This is not a game where the person who best hides the truth, wins.

Just to be clear, we are working with historic data, so 2018 could have seen sales soaring and business in profit. What we do know is that in 2014, the company told investors it hoped to be making a profit in 2016 of £2.5m on revenues of £10.9m. The actual revenue for 2016 as recorded in their filed accounts was £323k with losses for the year of £312k. This £323k is about half of the 2015 figure. The company has made nothing but losses since 2014. Yet the Crowdcube projections showed nothing but profits. 

All the above is not available in the latest Crowdcube Water to Go page. Is that misleading - you decide. 

So what about now? Well the company certainly needs cash. But with reviews that have a common theme - the bottles are not robust and do leak  - it needs a a lot more than that. These are recent reviews. This is not mentioned on Crowdcube but is in plain sight for anyone looking into the company. That is not sensible. 

One of the key problems with this product is that the mass market it seeks to access is not a market than can afford its high price tag. Third world countries where water supplies are troubled by bacteria are not inhabited by people with a spare £25. Likewise countries that do have plenty of such people, have water supplies that do not need a filter. There is a total misalignment. That might explain why after 4 years pummelling the roads to try to sell this product, sales went down last year. There are now of course plenty of alternatives - whereas 4 years ago Water to Go did have an advantage.

But the investment now may make sense - they have a new team to promote and they are still in business and one hopes, would have learnt a lot. Just be aware of what has happened since 2014 and make an informed decision. Crowdcube have failed to mention most of this.  This is exactly why ECF Buzz is so needed......Join us https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ecf-buzz-the-crowd-investors-information-centre/x/19804529/

Driverless companies, plane-less Airlines and accounting errors make up Crowdcube successes.

Two of Crowdcube's successes that are about to file accounts, are less than they seem. Cgon has no one driving the company and Odyssey (Airlines), one the longest tales in ECF history, has no planes. Another one that has just filed more losses has admitted a major accounting error in the previous year. 

£1m was invested into Odyssey and £160k into Cgon. And £191k was invested in Water to Go. 

Cgon make and sell a fuel enhancement box but all the original directors have now left and the company is being run by a director appointed just this year - someone who recently came from a PPI claims company aptly named Claim Hunters, which us run by the guy who set up Cgon but is no longer a director. Seems cosy.   Claim Hunters' last accounts show a profit of £170k. It does seem odd that Cgon, an engineering company with cutting edge technology can be run without its engineers at the helm.

Odyssey Airline have yet to take off. It is a tough ask without planes.

Water to Go have filed more losses for YE Dec17, on falling sales and it leaves them in deficit for £450k. Sales for the year were almost half the figure of two years ago. Their accounts show that the previous year's stock had been over valued by £100k. Software error. So a small company declares it has £280k of stock at YE but it turns out £110k of this is thin air. Come on. Software error or should have gone to Specsavers? The warehouse must have seemed a little empty. 5 aside anyone?

All three companies are currently in Crowdcube's doing well PRing. Surely we need an independent platform that produces this information and allows investors to see the real state of affairs - not Crowdcube's version.

You should all look at this - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ecf-buzz-the-crowd-investors-information-centre/x/19804529/

Crowdcube's Water To Go may have gone

Water to Go pushes on with further heavy losses and reaches out to China for a life line.

WTG raised just shy of £200k on Crowdcube in 2014. Since then you might say its results have been a little disappointing. 

Accounts for YE Dec16, just filed, show further losses of £200k for the year, on a turnover that halved from 2015. The Crowdcube version showed the company making net profits for 2016 of £2.5m. Just by way of an explanation, this £2.5m profit was on the back of sales of over £10m, whereas reality shows sales of just over £300k. The balance sheet is looking a little flushed.

When we looked at the product in a climbing shop in Scotland, firstly it was covered is dust, which is never a good sign, secondly it was very expensive.

They have put together a deal with a Chinese distributor just this month - nothing to do with torture we understand; that's been left for investors It may be their last straw.