HOW A SWISS SUCCESS IS ABOUT TO BECOME A GLOBAL HOUSEHOLD NAME
THE KAEX SUCCESS STORY
IDEA
After a big party night, Pedro Schmidt – a student in pharmaceutical sciences at the prestigious ETH Zurich – looked for an appropriate product in a major drugstore… without success.
Pedro’s scientific interest has been awakened: How can I help my body after drinking alcohol?
November 2011
RESEARCH
In a 4 year research based on scientific and peer-reviewed literature combined with his scientific development, Pedro finalized the KAEX prototype.
Even though he obviously knew the science behind the product, his head was blown off when first testing it…so were his 30 friends who participated in the first pilot study.
December 2015
«Alcohol leads to many complex reactions in the body. No single substance can resolve all challenges at once; hence, the combination of 25 synergic elements!»
Pedro Schmidt, 2015 first actual KAEX prototype
After a two-week diving-holiday in Sri Lanka, the deep dive into KAEX began and the formula was further perfected. Pedro quit his job in pharma to found ppsph. GmbH («pedro pablo schmidt pharma» later mutated to «ph. AG») in January 2016.
In 8 months of intense research & development, Pedro was certain that he had found the perfect solution and collaborated with renowned European patent attorneys for patent application.
PERFECTION
- KAEX is the holistic combination of all possible bioprocesses.
- KAEX basic is all vegan helping your body naturally.
- If necessary KAEX basic can be supercharged with KAEX dolo - the pharmaceutical addendum.
August 2016
PLANNING
William Reinecke, who had tested the prototype at an early stage and ever since was a big fan, asked to become a co-founder and organize distribution with his resources at MAREIN AG.
During business planning, Patricia Schmidt, who had just won her third prestigious marketing award, become a co-founder and future Chief Communication Officer.
David Guntern, the founder of «Internet & Gebrauchsgrafik GmbH» – an agency specialized in e-marketing (SBB, BMW, St. Moritz Tourism and others clients) – joined ph. as co-founder & Chief Digital Officer during pre-launch in 2017.
May 2017
In May 2017 the first financial round closed successfully. A proof of concept in which pharmaceutical legitimacy would be tested could be prepared and launched.
BIRTH OF KAEX BRAND
From day one, KAEX was conceived for a global mainstream market. «KAEX» brand name originated from market studies (n=150), and the logo has been registered as a trademark internationally.
Assessments of potential contract manufacturers included – next to the price -also quality certifications, lead time, and scalability. KAEX is being produced in the highest GMP quality by one of the top 3 largest nutraceutical producers in Germany.
September 2017
PROOF OF CONCEPT
To prove pharmaceutical relevance and legitimacy, KAEX launched in 15 pharmacies in September 2017. Without marketing and listing budgets, KAEX became available in 40 pharmacies within weeks and listed by all three pharma wholesalers. By the end of the proof of concept phase, KAEX was locally stocked in 200 pharmacies in December 2017. Today KAEX is locally stocked in 1000 pharmacies and being highly endorsed by Health-Care Professionals.
«Pharmacists do not approve of the excessive consumption of alcohol. However, we are all just humans. The KAEX ingredients are effective, the marketing clever.»
Dr. Conrad Egloff, Handelszeitung CEO Victoria Apotheken
February 2018
LEAVING THE NICHE
July 2018
The first patent review from the European patent office came back very positive. Given the high chances of approval and strategic business plans, the KAEX patent attorneys recommended extending application globally. KAEX has a global patent-pending awaiting approval in 2022.
Despite the proven pharmaceutical legitimacy granted by the high endorsements from health-care professionals, the time had not yet come to launch KAEX properly. Skeptics claimed that KAEX is a mere niche product without mainstream potential.
October 2018
A proper launch and market development in Switzerland would require 1.6M CHF in marketing budget. With only 0.35M CHF at hand from the second financial round, a pilot phase was initiated with the single goal of giving a glance at the mainstream potential and what would be possible with the appropriate marketing budget.
PILOT PHASE
Dezember 2018
On October 2018, KAEX launched in 370 coop stores which was picked up and covered by most namable media in Switzerland. This sudden fame even led to a brief shortness in supply. Coop claimed it to be one of the most successful launches in that product category. Soon, Migros contacted ph. AG and listed KAEX in May 2019. In a one-off sales in June 2019, ALDI Suisse sold 11k KAEX packages within days. But also the pharmacy sales channel experienced the mainstream boom making KAEX one of the top 100 bestseller (out of 35k) products in renowned drugstores.
coop surprised ph. AG by using KAEX in an image campaign. It is safe to summarize that skeptics have been proven wrong: the vast and untapped mainstream market is grasping to be developed.
coop, Social Media Campaign in June 2019
POST EVALUATION
First-hand data from the webshop show a >3x higher customer retention rate (16%) than industry standard (5%). Further, most users choose the largest packages when re-purchasing KAEX. Both statistically significant conclusions are the best possible indicators for product satisfaction.
POST EVALUATION
Next to the evidence on product satisfaction, valuable market experiences were made during the pilot phase: The important goal is to integrate KAEX into the daily lifestyle of the target group and as such, growing into an integral part of mainstream culture. The current product claim «after alcohol + the next day» is understood by many as «after too much alcohol». The new claim «recharge overnight + protect the next day» will facilitate an organic absorption into the everyday lifestyle and differentiation to KAEX dolo.
SCALING
October 2019
Series A round will allow to launch KAEX in Germany in Q1 2020 and more importantly to develop the market then sustainably over the following 15 months. Thanks to the volume of the German market, the economy of scale mechanisms in the combination of a very lean business structure, profitability will be allowing to expand organically into Benelux countries in Q4 2020, Scandinavia in Q1 2021 and then the UK in Q4 2021. The annual revenue of KAEX will amount to 49M CHF in 2022.
KAEX operates in a market of global mainstream potential. Gaining mainstream access to key European markets will result in a positive snowball effect for further development. Licensing agreements will scale the business globally within a few years and thereby making “KAEX” into a global household name.
With mainstream availability in most key markets, campaigns of the highest awareness will become feasible, such as the sponsoring of sports events. An explicit goal is to facilitate product placement in Hollywood movies and TV shows and thereby creating the new phrase: When being asked whether it got late the previous day…
«I am feeling good, I am all kaex’d up »
