Effex

The challenge

Effex builds a SaaS platform for statistical experiment design (Design of Experiments). Founded in 2023 in Leuven with backing from Volta Ventures, KU Leuven, and the Flanders Future Techfund, they needed a pricing model that could serve both small startups running a few experiments and large pharmaceutical companies running hundreds.

The core question: how do you price a platform where the value per experiment varies enormously depending on the customer’s scale and industry?

The approach

We started by analyzing who was already showing interest and why. The early signals pointed to two very different customer profiles: small startups exploring statistical design for the first time, and enterprise players like pharmaceutical companies who understood the methodology and needed scale.

We drew clear lines between these segments. The small startup running 5 experiments a year has fundamentally different needs, and willingness to pay, than a pharma company running 500.

The pricing model we built uses a credits-based system: customers buy credits and spend them when they run experiments. This aligned pricing with the customer’s success. The more experiments they run, the more value they extract, and the more they pay.

The result

Effex launched with a pricing model that:

• Scales with customer success. Pay only when you use, removing the barrier for early-stage customers.
• Captures value at enterprise scale. Larger customers with more complex needs pay proportionally more.
• Separates segments clearly. Different entry points for startups vs. enterprise, without one cannibalizing the other.
• Supports fundraising. A defensible pricing model that investors could understand and project revenue from.