Rich Energy Ltd. is a British beverage company that claims to manufacture the Rich Energy energy drink. The company was founded in 2015 by William Storey and an anonymous Austrian scientist. The energy drink project began in 2009 with the development of the product, and the company was founded six years later. Information about Rich Energy Ltd. and its energy drink is very limited. Due to this, the company has been the subject of controversy regarding the existence of its product. On 16 July 2019, Rich Energy announced that they have renamed their company name to "Lightning Volt Ltd.", and on 19 July 2019 a new company was incorporated under the name "Rich Energy Limited". Information filed under Companies House also revealed that William Storey and Croatian colleague Zoran Terzic had apparently resigned as directors from the newly-renamed Lightning Volt Ltd., before being reappointed on 16 August 2019. Storey stated that he had "sold his stake in the legal entity of Rich Energy". Matthew Kell was appointed as a new director of the company after Storey's apparent exit. In August 2019, Storey bought back shares from Kell to retake a majority shareholding in the company. In March 2020, Rich Energy became available online via its website.
Products
Rich Energy claims to produce the Rich Energy drink, described by the company as "a premium and innovative British energy drink". The drink contains organic sugar cane and pure mineral water from alpine spring water. The company keeps the drink's recipe a secret.
Sponsorship
Rich Energy has sponsored a number of people since its founding, including Jay Carrigan-McFarlane, Lucas Browne, Toby Sowery, Jim Walker, Dakota Schuetz, Alex Thomson, Phil Campion, and Gennadiy Golovkin. The British company also claims to sponsor the West Ham United Womenfootball team, the Born Fearless boxing team, as well as 24 other entities. Rich Energy has also had a presence in motorsport. In March 2017, Rich Energy became a title sponsor for True Heroes Racing, a motorbike team for the British Superbike Championship. On October 2018, Rich Energy became title sponsor of the Formula One teamHaas F1 Team. During a tumultuous 2019 campaign for the American team, Rich Energy eventually parted ways with them in September of that year. Originally, the company intended to get a sponsorship deal with Williams. However it is unclear whether the team rejected their offer or Rich Energy simply changed their mind. Rich Energy also attempted to purchase Sahara Force India for £100 million, who had been put into administration by the High Court at the time. Storey claimed the deal had been finalised, however this was denied by the Indian racing team. In February 2020, Rich Energy was announced as the new title sponsor of British Superbike Championship race winners OMG Racing in a multi-million pound deal. In July 2020, Rich Energy was announced as a sponsor of BTCC driver Michael Crees, who drives for BTC Racing.
Controversies
Brand legitimacy
Controversies regarding Rich Energy's credibility began to spread in the days following Rich Energy's attempt to purchase the Sahara Force India racing team. Internet forums and social media posts questioned the legitimacy of the company. The company's financial documentation became exposed through Companies House. Former CEO William Storey had denied the claims multiple times, stating that Rich Energy had produced 90 million drink cans, and that it was backed with £4 billion worth of endorsements despite there being no financial information corroborating this claim.
Copyright infringement
In May 2019, Rich Energy Ltd. was involved in a court case with Whyte Bikes due to the logo being used by Rich Energy bearing too close a resemblance to the logo used by the bicycle company. Rich Energy lost the case, the judge declaring that Rich Energy had misled the court by claiming they did not previously know about Whyte Bikes. On 18 July 2019, the Rich Energy Twitter account leaked alleged court documents, suggesting that the company, as well as former CEO William Storey, would be facing legal proceedings by Austrian energy drink company Red Bull GmbH in relation to Rich Energy's advertising slogan.
On 10 July 2019, the Rich Energy Twitter account announced that the company had ended its sponsorship of Formula One constructor Haas F1 Team, saying that Rich Energy had terminated their title sponsorship deal due to the team's poor performance and Formula One Group's politics and attitude. The announcement from the energy drink brand came as "a surprise" to Guenther Steiner, Haas's team principal. The following day, the company's shareholders attempted to disown the announcement, stating that the apparent termination of the sponsorship deal was "the rogue actions of one individual". The company also stated that it was "in the process of removing the individual from all executive responsibilities". Former CEO William Storey later accused his company's shareholders of "mounting a coup" in relation to the Haas F1 team sponsorship. On 9 September 2019, a day after the Italian Grand Prix, Haas F1 announced the termination of the deal with Rich Energy with immediate effect.
