Tag Archives: Humancharger

Valkee is history

earlightswindle exclusive, Finland, HumanCharger, pseudoscience, Valkee, , ,

Dear readers,

after more than 13 14 years of useless existence, nearly 100.000 betrayed customers, over 20 million € damage (including ~15 million tax money and private investments):

Valkee Oy (aka Valkee Ltd) is history.

This comes also nearly 10 years after I set out to stop this fraud, firstly with the MOT TV program, which I instigated, co-wrote* and appeared in, which was followed by the 2012 HuuHaa award from Skepsis ry that cited my analysis, and the countless publications on this blog and elsewhere.

Besides the MOT Yleisradio program, there have been many incredible moments, the most recent being the thesis defense farce in Oulu, about which I wrote in Skeptikko 4/2018 (p.24).

There may be some text in Finnish coming this week.

_____

*why I was uncredited despite 70% of the original story was mine, is part of the untold

Valkee Sets New Record, and:
A Match Made in Hell… err, Oulu

earlightswindle exclusive, Finland, huijaus Suomesta, HumanCharger, investors, pseudoscience, Valkee, , , , , , , ,

Valkee Oy tekee omavaraisuusasteen miinusennätyksen, ja korvavalon keksijä tekee nyt töitä krapulapilleri-firmalle, joka oli myös kritiikkini kohde täällä.

Valkee Ltd, manufacturer of the HumanCharger earlight devices, has set a new record. Unnoticed by the public, the company reached Finland’s most negative equity ratio and most consecutive years without declaring an overdue bankruptcy.

As told before, there is no rationale behind keeping this enterprise alive, other than the chairman’s reluctance to admit defeat. Timo Ahopelto seems to repress the fact, that  Finland’s penal law lists not declaring a bankruptcy and accumulating additional debt as a crime (chapter 39 no. 1a: Aggravated dishonesty by a debtor, törkeä velallisen epärehellisyys). Welcome to up to 4 years in prison.

Meanwhile, key personnel of the failed firm is “looking for challenges” elsewhere. The following observation nearly knocked me off the chair…

Keep in mind, how this blog was initially only about the Valkee-HumanCharger earlight swindle, until I started writing also about hangover cures. Naturally, many “inventors” and sellers of such BS are found in Finland. My years-long series started with Rohtos Oy from Oulu, and its acetylcysteine scam.

The earlight inventor, Juuso Nissilä, works now for Rohtos.

Did they meet in a hate group? Or a self-help organization for scammer who fell “victim” to my activities? I’m afraid we will never know.

 

HumanCharger Balance: Why does Valkee Ltd still exist?

crowdfunding, earlightswindle exclusive, HumanCharger, investors, pseudoscience, Valkee, valkeeleaks, , , , , ,

Last month the Finnish Patent and Register Office (prh.fi) threatened to shut down Valkee Ltd, the manufacturer of the infamous HumanCharger device, should the company not provide their 2/2020 balance.

The long-overdue document was hastily produced in early February 2021, with strong-worded remarks by the accountant and auditor, who were called in too late. Here it is.

Valkee balance 2020

As expected, sales were down again (turnover €568.000)and loss was growing (to 776.000). The company is still existing despite awful bank debts, which it will never be able to repay (long-term 730.000 and short-term 840.000).

The most concerning point, however, is that the balance sum has shrunk to only €193.000, while Valkee has a registered floating charge of 300.000. Taking into account also the loss of all share capital already back in 2017, and the bitter failure of their Indiegogo campaign which should have rescued the business, it’s simply reckless to keep this thing going.

I’d speculated before, that it’s Valkee’s chairman Timo Ahopelto, who doesn’t want to admit defeat and keeps the company up with little sums. He has toured podcasts and conferences preaching the long-busted “benefits” of the HumanCharger, and had to let go other important investments very recently (Enevo Oy went into bankruptcy in July 2020).

In other jurisdictions, for instance in Germany, a company that has never and will never generate a profit must be shut down already for taxation laws. “Hobby” business is not allowed under a public registration. In Finland, even a firm that has no share capital and is permanently soaking in funds, may exist for an indefinite time. The problem with Valkee is, that it keeps scamming people as long as it is active – as seen on IGG.

 

Valkee’s leaders still claim, that everything will gonna be ok. The CEO Aki Backman has been compared to Iraq’s previous information minister “Comical Ali” for that.

The company’s last full fiscal year ends on Sunday, 28th Feb 2021.

 

There will be no FI-version of this post, because I expect the snail media to do it soon.

 

 

HumanCharger-Valkee leaving the stage

Finland, huijaus Suomesta, HumanCharger, investors, pseudoscience, Valkee, , , , , , , , ,

Finnish media reported last week, that Valkee Ltd. is now registered on the public list of insolvent debitors (protestilista). The maker of the HumanCharger scam devices, which has received stupid money investments of more than 10 million Euro and is chaired by the “famous” Timo Ahopelto, is now unable to pay bills as low as €1000.

The press reports show, that despite being otherwise a small and rather unimportant company, Valkee is still of interest because of the vast media attention it received in the past. This development was furthered, predicted and documented by this blog for years.

The snail media, having re-published my stories repeatedly without revealing the source, missed a certain detail. Valkee Ltd has also been forced out of their long-term headquarters in Oulu. Their website still speaks about “R&D and production facilities [which] are located adjacent to the company’s headquarters in Oulu, Finland”. In fact, Valkee could no longer pay the rent in Elektroniikkatie 3-5. The new address is in Lummintie 11 in Oulunsalo.

There is not much space for production and R&D, adjacent to a massage therapist.

The company is so desperate, it sells the devices now for $87 (previously $219). In Europe these are out of stock, no cash to manufacture any more. This is how the story ends.

HumanCharger: Indiegogo campaign fails, last investor pulls out (update)

crowdfunding, earlightswindle exclusive, HumanCharger, investors, pseudoscience, Valkee, , , , ,

Valkee (alias HumanCharger) has had a single foreign investor since 2013: Merieux Developpement, which financed the earlight company together with Lifeline Ventures and the finnish tax payer. As the co-lead investor, Merieux Dev. had its partner Valerie Calenda on Valkee’s board. Until now.

 

According to the trade register, Calenda has resigned from the board recently. Merieux Equity Partners, which holds the active investments of Merieux Dev., no longer lists Valkee on its portfolio pages. From the french investor’s “regional partners” category disappeared Seppo Mäkinen, former Sitra director, and probably the person who lured Merieux Dev. into this adventure.

 

There is no explanation other than Merieux has backed off and written down its multi-million loss. Now Valkee’s HumanCharger operations are completely controlled by its own folks: the CEO Aki Backman, the inventor Juuso Nissilä, and Timo Ahopelto.

The struggling company had high expectations for their follow-up product to the old LED headset: The HumanCharger Wireless Headset, an ugly and hard-to-wear bluetooth device. It launched an Indiegogo campaign, which looks like a complete desaster already.

 

Featured prominently at reddit/shittykickstarters, people aren’t buying it for half the price.

One backer has left a positive comment, looks like here’s really an impressed user.

 

It’s Timo Ahopelto, the company’s chairman, who felt the urgent need to push his product. Probably it won’t help.

***

UPDATE 7.12.2019:
Valkee’s “HumanCharger” managed to reach 55% of the 30.000€ funding goal on Indiegogo after a month. They added another month and got 40% more, still unable to reach their low aim. They crossed the 100% with the help of two “backers” who sponsored the company with >2000€, not claiming a perk. Probably, these were staffers.

To “reach” the goal made it possible to sell the scam devices still over IGG under the “onDemand” label. The demand is 2-3 devices per week.

These facts are recorded on IGG trackers, like backerkit.com.

HumanCharger-Valkee’s balance 2019: Guess what?

earlightswindle exclusive, Finland, huijaus Suomesta, HumanCharger, Valkee, valkeeleaks, , , , , ,

Finnish Valkee Ltd, maker of the questionable HumanCharger earlight device, has just filed its 2018-2019 balance. It’s the same as every year: Overwhelming loss and now again a sharp drop in revenue.

And as every year, earlightswindle.com makes it available.

Valkee balance 2/2019 (valkee2019.pdf)

Turnover has fallen by 34%, thus eliminating last years somewhat surprising rise. It’s now 637.000€, i.e. even less than in 2016/17. The effect of the US launch seems to level out. Good news for them: Loss is down to 594.000 Euro. But this means, that still every Euro turnover results in one Euro loss – as last year.

HR costs are down from 411.000 to 268.000€, and with (only) 226.000€ paid out, the question is who’s still employed by this company – besides its CEO and some salespersons.

Valkee is struggling to survive, as it did since 2007 – and now it became clear, how the project is “scaling”. It will exist as long as its investors are willing to pay. The plug may be pulled sooner or later.

That’s an enduring embarassment also for Interbrand, which really messed up by calling HumanCharger a “breakthrough brand” in 2017. The only thing that will break here will be the investors’ patience.

Over & out, as I leave this rather boring news piece to the snail media, Kauppalehti, HelsinginSanomat or whatever, for those laties who have not cancelled subscriptions yet.

Update 13.7.2019: Kauppalehti did as expected and translated this into finnish as “news”. Always welcome on my blog.

Social Media: “HumanCharger” is comedy gold

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The Sunday Times (UK) just had an absolutely awful piece on “biohackers”, and it seems that readers have a clear favourite which one is the most ridiculous “biohack” of all.

HumanCharger is trending on Twitter at this moment, and it’s not quite the way the scammers dream of.

Some years ago, one of Finland’s leading newspapers asked its readers, which is the worst product failure ever in this country. The HumanCharger won that poll unanimously. The public reaction seems now to be the same whatever whenever.

But once upon a time, things were different, when I started the earlightswindle.com-website. It is fairly outdated, but gives a good picture of the situation then, when the media hyped the Valkee device – now renamed “HumanCharger“ – and there were few critical voices as mine. I’m sort of proud still, for having steered the mainstream here./-ed.

Valkee: Turnover up 50% – 1 million loss as usual (update)

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Korvavalofirman tilinpäätös 2/2018 loppuneelta tilikaudelta tuli julki. Liikevaihdon odotettu 50% kasvu toteutui, summa on lähes sama kuin 2013/2014. Henkilöstömäärä laski kuuteen. Tasesumma puolittui. Tappio on silti saman verran kuin viime vuonna, yli miljoonaa. Firman kulut olivat edelleen €1,10 jokaista liikevaihtoeuroa kohden.

Kokonaistappio on siis virallisesti ylittänyt 10M€-rajan. Viime vuosien huimat pääomalainat, jotka pitivät firmaa juuri ja juuri elossa, on tilinpäätösasiakirjoissa s.8 ja 9. Suurin ongelma lienee se, että uudet laitteet pitäisi valmistaa tuoreella rahalla. Tällä hetkellä myynti on nolla. Tilintarkastaja arvioi että Valkee tarvitsee pääomalainojen lisäksi uutta rahoitusta jatkaakseen toimintansa.

Valkee Balance 2018 (PDF)

The finnish earlight manufacturer Valkee Ltd has grown sales of its HumanCharger device again by 50%. With only 6 employees (peaked at 21 in 2014), the company made still roughly the same loss as last year, over €1 million. It survived until now on capital shot in by previous investors as convertible loans, amounting to 2-3 million in 2 years. Ernst&Young’s accountants suspect, that Valkee won’t exist through the present fiscal year, unless it gets substantial funding in addition to such loans.

Valkee has given up on Finland, where the HumanCharger is considered a national embarrassment. Sales to US “biohackers” susceptible to all kinds of such scams and supplements go well, especially since earlightswindle.com was unlawfully removed from Google’s index* and there’s no independent information available. (I’ll do nothing about that until the content on the classic site is updated.)

Still, all independent research to date has demonstrated that the fake “light therapy” through the ear canal has only a placebo effect. The company’s budget does not allow for new marketing “research”, and it seems no evidence is needed to ensure international sales.

 

*the important static site with all the key information about the Valkee case (under earlightswindle.com/index.htm and else) was removed, while the blog is still visible.  It looks like the content URLs were removed manually.

UPDATE 21.9.2018:
earlightswindle.com is back in the Google index. It wasn’t me!

Valkee Humancharger shutdown – temporary or final?

earlightswindle exclusive, Finland, huijaus Suomesta, investors, Valkee, , , , , , , , , ,

This blog – as the previous earlightswindle.com – was once reporting exclusively about the multifaceted scamming activities of finnish company Valkee Ltd, maker of the fake “light therapy device” HumanCharger.

Now it seems they are finally phasing out of business. The company is technically bankrupt since March 2017, but now

The finnish trade register says, that in May 2018 the main shareholders LifeLine Ventures, Vera and Merieux forgave the company another 230.000€ convertible loan; i.e. was converted into worthless shares. The same happened to several other such loans during the last two years, rising the amount of burnt money to more than 10 million Euro.

The next months will now be decisive. I am looking forward and will inform as always.

HumanCharger’s “global breakthrough” fake

earlightswindle exclusive, Finland, investors, Uncategorized, Valkee, valkeeleaks, , , , , ,

Last autumn I came across a deceptive piece praising Valkee and its HumanCharger at goodnewsfinland.com (part of Finpro, a state-run agency). I complained to the editors about the fake news they spread, prompting them to delete most of the misinformation from the text. It took several weeks, and there is no mention of the changes in the article.

The diff is documented here, as a perfect example of how Valkee deceives others, which in turn deceive people about the HumanCharger.

fakenews1

The Interbrand report of 2017’s “breakthrough brands” was a marketing stunt for the HumanCharger. In the small print, the report admits that companies could submit themselves and their stories were not challenged (p. 61 in the PDF). An embarrassing glitch for Interbrand: They faithfully listed what Valkee said, although the company should not be even in there. The limit for inclusion was 10 years in business and the HumanCharger company was already older than 10 years – it was founded in February 2007, and the product is even older.

Then it gets absurd: Interbrand has never “valued HumanCharger’s brand at 64,67 million”. Impossible – it’s a known scam, and as such, a toxic brand in Finland and most of Europe. The 65 million was, back in 2013, the valuation, i.e. investors paid ~10 million for a 16% stake, which put the whole company in theory at 65 million.

This is fairly outdated. Valkee lost its share capital and is now worth Zero.

65 million x 0/share = 0

That the earlight does not work by “stimulating the brain” is clear, at least to everybody who had ever to do with neuroscience. Silently deleted.

fakenews2

The name of the notified body or its claimed image doesn’t tell anything about the earlight. It just looks better, when it’s in Germany. Changed.

Valkee’s CEO Aki Backman then claimed that the FDA somehow testified that HumanCharger is harmless. That’s a breathtaking misrepresentation. In reality, they could not provide evidence for the device’s health claims. Therefore it got no approval as a medical device, but fell in the underclass “General wellness” category. As such, the device cannot give any kind of (light) therapy despite misleading advertisements. Deleted.

 

“Breakthrough brand” is a struggling micro-business

The aging scam company meets the tight finnish criteria for a micro-business and is therefore exempt from certain standards in financial reporting. The firm uses this in its balances and managed to survive to this day – being technically bancrupt – as detailed in its 2/2017 balance. A mysterious person has recently pumped millions of private funds into Valkee, to keep it alive.

Earlightswindle.com makes the balances traditionally available to the public. Here it is.

Valkee-balance 2017 (PDF)