Welcome to Back or Bolt, a newsletter highlighting what is happening in the world of early-stage investing/crowdfunding. I’ll provide a curated list of what’s new in the crowdfunding space around the world and one deep dive into a company of interest, then it is up to you whether to BACK OR BOLT!
The DEEP DIVE - “Something Special” from Musicow
A Khalid and Ahn Hyo-seop collaboration, tokenised and sold as a royalty share to fans. The song is genuinely good, the concept is genuinely novel, and the cultural cross-pollination between US R&B and K-culture fandoms is real. But this is a single song, an untested legal structure, and - for anyone outside the US - a tax position with almost nothing written down to rely on.
Background Context
Musicow, in partnership with Roc Nation Distribution, is offering fans the chance to own a slice of the royalty stream from "Something Special" - a new single pairing Khalid, the multi-platinum R&B artist, with Ahn Hyo-seop, the South Korean actor whose voice role in Netflix's K-Pop Demon Hunters has made him a genuine global crossover figure. The structure is a Royalty Share: investors don't own the master recording or any copyright, but receive a pro-rata cut of net royalty income generated through streaming, licensing, sync deals and social media use.
This is built on Republic's crowdfunding infrastructure, using a custodial structure via BitGo Trust, and the offering is currently barely off the ground - $1,850 raised against a $200,000 minimum target, from 7 investors.
The Good ✅
The cultural moment is real, not manufactured. Ahn Hyo-seop's voice role in K-Pop Demon Hunters - one of 2025's biggest global streaming phenomena - gives him a legitimate crossover audience well beyond the K-drama fanbase he already had. Pairing him with Khalid, an established Grammy-nominated R&B artist, is a genuinely interesting attempt to bridge two large, distinct fandoms rather than a forced novelty pairing.
Combined reach is substantial: 36+ billion lifetime streams, 55+ million monthly listeners, and 20+ million Instagram followers across both artists. Even a modest conversion of that audience into streams of a new single is a meaningful number.
The structure puts investors in from day one rather than buying into a catalogue past its peak. Most music royalty investment products (Royalty Exchange, SongVest, etc.) sell shares in older, already-monetised catalogues. Here, the royalty exposure starts at release, meaning all future upside - viral moments, sync placements, soundtrack use - flows to current investors rather than someone who already captured the early streaming spike.
Press pickup has been broad and immediate: Forbes, Yahoo Finance, South China Morning Post and Genius have all covered the release, which suggests real editorial interest beyond a paid promotional push.
The team has been unusually direct in the public Q&A. When asked, Musicow's Paul Baik gave a clear breakdown of how the royalty percentage scales with the amount raised (2.5% of royalties at the $200k minimum, up to the full 25% at the $2M maximum) - a level of plain-spoken transparency that's rare in this newsletter's coverage.
The Bad 🚩
The raise is barely moving. $1,850 of a $200,000 minimum from 7 investors, with 16 days left at time of writing, is a long way from the finish line. If the minimum isn't hit, the offering simply doesn't happen and funds are returned - meaning the entire cultural and structural case is moot unless momentum changes sharply.
This is a single song, not a catalogue. Diversification - the thing that protects most royalty investors from any one track underperforming - doesn't exist here. The filing says this directly: "we are relatively undiversified since our strategy involves the investment exclusively in Royalty Streams" of this one master.
Musicow's own founder told an investor directly, in writing, that they cannot project or guarantee any rate of return - "actual results will depend on how the song performs over time." That's an honest answer, but it also means there is no modelled downside or upside case to assess; you are pricing pure uncertainty.
The pricing itself wasn't independently set. The offering price was determined internally by Musicow using its own discounted cash flow analysis and comparable-track assumptions - not benchmarked by a third party. The filing acknowledges this plainly: "the actual value of your investment may be substantially less than what you pay."
The legal and tax treatment of the instrument is unresolved at a structural level - and this is the part worth dwelling on, because it's more than the usual disclosure boilerplate.
Back or Bolt?
⚡ The temptation here is genuine, and it's worth taking seriously rather than dismissing outright - a good song, an authentic cultural crossover moment, and a structure that puts investors in at the most interesting point in a track's life rather than after the upside is gone. That's a more honest pitch than most of what crosses this newsletter's desk.
But strip away the novelty and what's left is a single, undiversified asset with no independent valuation, a founder who has told investors in writing that no return can be projected, a raise that's barely 1% funded with limited time left, and a tax position that is genuinely unresolved even before you get to the additional complexity of being a non-US investor. None of these are hypothetical concerns dressed up as risk-factor boilerplate - they are stated plainly, in the company's own words, in the filing and in the public Q&A.
My verdict: a bolt - not because the song or the concept lacks merit, but because the combination of single-asset concentration, an unfunded raise, and a materially worse tax position for non-US investors is too much uncertainty stacked on an instrument that nobody, including its own issuer, is willing to model a return for. If the structure matures - clearer tax guidance, a track record across multiple songs, independent pricing - this is exactly the kind of category worth revisiting (this is my personal view and not investment advice).
(This is my personal view and not investment advice).
The Round Up 🌏
These are also on my radar this week. If you’d like me to analyse any of these in a future Deep Dive, be sure to let me know.
United Kingdom/Europe 🇬🇧 🇪🇺
The Sky Wave Distilling Co. - Bicester, UK | Food & Beverage / Spirits | Award-winning ultra-premium gin and vodka range, "World's Best Gin," exporting to Japan and Europe | 34% revenue growth, 85 international awards, listed by 4 UK national distributors, stocked in 3 major airports, bespoke spirits partner to Blenheim Palace | £1.9M pre-money valuation | £7.42 per share | EIS eligible
POP Energy - Norwich, UK | Energy / Community Infrastructure | Community-led renewable energy installer enabling street-by-street solar, battery and grid-flexibility adoption | £1.5M sales across 14 communities, 84% YoY growth, £435k raised from SFC Capital and Sustainable Ventures, Earthshot Prize nominee, 100.1pts on B Corp | £2.5M pre-money valuation | £1.958 per share | EIS eligible
Farm Girl - London, UK | Food & Beverage / Hospitality | "West London phenomenon" wellness cafe brand opening a fourth, landmark site in Mayfair | 10 years trading, 3 profitable sites, £448k Group EBITDA on £3.5m revenue (FY26), 100k Instagram followers, founders investing £200k (27% of round) | £9M pre-money valuation | £2.03 per share | EIS eligible
Greenback Recycling Technologies - UK | CleanTech / Recycling | Modular advanced recycling technology (Enval® microwave pyrolysis) converting flexible plastic packaging into circular feedstock, with operational plants in UK and Mexico | £21.7M raised to date, backed by Nestlé, Amcor and the IFC (World Bank), 12-month order-to-operational plant turnaround | Convertible (ASA), £60M longstop valuation | No EIS
United States 🇺🇸
Popwheels - Brooklyn, NY, USA | Mobility / Infrastructure | Fire-safe battery-swapping network for e-bike delivery workers, replacing dangerous home charging | 50+ stations, 250,000+ swaps, 4 cities (NYC, DC, Toronto, Philadelphia), 97% conversion in NYCDOT pilot, $5M+ raised from NY Ventures, Metaprop and Closed Loop Partners | SAFE | Min. $100
Ghost in Indiana - Columbus, OH, USA | Entertainment / Film | Supernatural romantic dramedy feature film exploring grief, shot entirely in Ohio | Slamdance top-25 screenplay (2024), writer/co-director credits on Orange Is the New Black, targeting $350k budget with Ohio film tax credit rebates of up to $130k | Custom revenue waterfall instrument | Min. $100
Normotim - Dover, DE, USA | Healthcare / Supplements | Lithium ascorbate brain-health supplement platform targeting stress, anxiety and cognitive decline, with ambitions toward an FDA Medical Food category | 2M+ units sold globally, 54 patents worldwide (3 US), 40+ studies, 1,336-influencer affiliate programme | SAFE ($7M valuation cap) | Min. $100
Australia/New Zealand 🇦🇺 🇳🇿
Vitadrop - Victoria, Australia | Health & Wellness / Functional Beverages | Sugar-free hydration brand using an amino-acid-assisted (L-glutamine) absorption formulation as an alternative to sugar-driven sports drinks | $3.5M+ revenue, 4 million serves sold, 250,000+ customers, 1,200+ distribution points (Priceline Pharmacy, Kmart Group), Mannings Hong Kong pilot, profitable over trailing 6 months, 500+ pharmacist/naturopath endorsements | AUD $74,868 minimum target (8.83% funded, 5 days left) | Min. AUD $249.56
The Scorecard:
Backs: 3 - Bolts: 11 (+1 this week)
The Fund:
That’s all for now, gotta bolt and get back to it! ⚡
DISCLAIMER - This newsletter is not financial advice, and should not be used as such. It is for information purposes only. Every investment has risks and you should do your own due diligence or discuss with a financial advisor before investing. Early-stage investing is higher risk and you may lose everything you put in. It is also highly illiquid, meaning your investment is not easily accessible if you need the funds at short notice.