Gronkh is not only a Twitch streamer, but also an investor. He has invested money in the iced tea manufacturer Ocha-Ocha as well. The company is now on the brink of collapse and is discussing collaboration with the streamer. Gronkh is having the whole matter clarified by his lawyer.
Who is it about? The streamer Erik “Gronkh” Range is a stalwart on YouTube and Twitch. Gronkh was for a while the channel with the most subscribers on YouTube in Germany.
What does Gronkh have to do with the iced tea manufacturer? Ocha-Ocha is an iced tea manufacturer in which Gronkh claims to have invested. According to the company’s website, it specializes in sugar-free iced tea that is supposed to abstain from additives (via ocha-ocha.de).
Iced tea manufacturer accuses Gronkh of being unreachable
What is the dispute about? The company accuses the streamer in a newsletter published on X.com (formerly Twitter) by Anime Heaven, stating that there has been no direct contact with Gronkh for 14 months. Furthermore, no new money from investors is said to have flowed in to sustain the company. They are disappointed with how they are treated as people.
There seems to have been a misunderstanding regarding Gronkh’s role in the business relationship with Ocha-Ocha. In a LinkedIn post by the founder, Gronkh is referred to as a brand ambassador and partner. However, Gronkh himself emphasizes in his stream that he was only an investor and nothing more (via Gronkh.tv around 6:18:30).
Many details are still unknown due to the legal dispute. However, Gronkh stated in his stream that he would comment on it once it is clarified.
We have a video for you about Gronkh’s career and his life as Germany’s most famous Let’s Player.
Iced tea manufacturer makes differences with Gronkh public
How did the dispute become public? In a stream at the start of the new year, a viewer in Gronkh’s Twitch chat mentioned hearing negative things about the streamer from Ocha-Ocha and asked what was going on.
Gronkh then told his viewers that he had read the newsletter to which the viewer was referring at the start of the new year.
I won’t go into it too much, please don’t be mad at me. The whole thing is with the lawyer and there should have been mail sent out today, and as long as that’s still pending, I won’t talk about it too much, but we can definitely, very gladly, discuss it more. Yeah, that was… so holy shit.
Gronkh in his stream(via Gronkh.tv)
Gronkh found the iced tea manufacturer’s contact to be “overreaching”
What does Gronkh say about the newsletter? Although he didn’t want to reveal anything, Gronkh does bring up the topic in his stream: “When you read the newsletter, I think you can see why I distanced myself back then, or why I didn’t want contact. I believe you can directly notice that when you just read the newsletter.”
The streamer emphasizes afterwards that there was always contact with the company, even if he himself was not reachable. According to him, Ocha-Ocha had a contact person at Range Ventures, as he himself felt the iced tea manufacturer’s contact was “very overreaching”:
I understand one of the points. One of the points was that I wasn’t directly reachable. But first of all, it is unusual for investors to always be directly reachable for everything. And secondly, I was no longer directly reachable because the contact was very overreaching… because I found the contact to be very overreaching. And that’s why I wished not to do that anymore. However, since then our CEO at Range Ventures has had regular contact. Regularly. Was available at any time. Was always there, always in every conversation. Was always involved, did everything.
Gronkh in his stream
Furthermore, Gronkh believes that one should not write negatively about an investor in a newsletter, especially when looking for investors. He adds that he has supported the company, referring to the company figures he has access to through his investment activities.
What exactly was said in the newsletter? The company Ocha-Ocha published a newsletter in which they not only wrote negatively about Gronkh but also announced the impending end of the company. It is said to only continue as a project and the founders of the start-up want to look for jobs again.
Although they do not directly attribute reasons to Gronkh, they dedicate a separate section of the newsletter to their collaboration with him. In it, they write that they should remove any “content” from Gronkh from their sites, without being given a reason for this.
You can read the full newsletter here:
The company also states that they have not communicated directly with Gronkh for 14 months and that numerous emails went unanswered. They are disappointed with the development, especially in how they were treated as people.
Gronkh is generally seen in a positive light by the gaming community, not least because he regularly raises a lot of money for charitable causes together with other streamers as part of Friendly Fire:
Friendly Fire 9 raises over 1 million euros on Twitch, but cannot break its old record
