Review: Brainsolutions

Brainsolutions is een data-, crm- & martechbureau. Op de loonlijst staan ongeveer 7 voltijdse equivalenten. Het bureau is toegespitst op crm & marketing automation en ai & automatisering.

ContinuityWatch5,1 months of wages without income · median 4,2

littlea lot

SeniorityMixed profile€ 61.721 per FTE, € 5.143 a month · median € 72.028

juniorsenior

Price levelKeenly priced€ 35 per hour worked · median € 65

keentop

GrowthShrinking-12,4% gross margin versus the previous year · median 13,1%

shrinkinggrowth

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

2022202320242025

Latest year: € 425.832 gross margin, growth -12,4% against a sector median of +13,1%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2022202320242025

BrainsolutionsSector median

EBITDA margin -6,6%, sector median 24,7%. Value-added coverage 0,93 (median 1,21).

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 61.715

Median (2024) € 103.589

Against a payroll cost of € 61.721 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 35

Median (2024) € 65

11.997 hours worked, 1.739 per FTE. Against that sits € 36 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 0 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Below the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: 10,6 months (median 8,2 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 374.481.

Adequate buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 181.121. Liquidity ratio 3,11: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 60,2%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 103 days of supplier credit, sector median 74. The accounts were filed 215 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Filed late

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

Warnings active

Signals in the last 24 months

Late filing · 31 Jan 2026 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this; rarely alarming in itself.
Low value-added coverage · 30 Jun 2025 · NBB
Every euro of payroll generates less than 95 cents of added value. The team is not fully earning itself back.
Loss-making year · 30 Jun 2025 · NBB
A financial year closed at a loss. On its own that need not be alarming (investments, a lost client); watch for repetition.
Late filing · 7 Feb 2025 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this; rarely alarming in itself.

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation.

What this agency does well

Strong buffer: 10,6 months of payroll in equity
Healthy working capital (current ratio 3,11)
Comfortable cash position: 155 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (14,5%)

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

4 financial years, 2022 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 605.000	€ 610.249+0,9%	€ 486.160-20,3%	€ 425.832-12,4%
EBITDA	€ 172.000	€ 232.397	€ 83.284	€ -28.248
EBITDA margin	28,4%	38,1%	17,1%	-6,6%
Staff
FTE	7,8	6,3-19,2%	7,3+15,9%	6,9-5,5%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 77.564	€ 96.865	€ 66.597	€ 61.715
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 57.179	€ 59.027	€ 55.029	€ 61.721
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 193.000	€ 363.045	€ 417.748	€ 374.481
Cash	-	€ 457.903	€ 236.459	€ 181.121
Liquidity ratio	-	2,21	2,76	3,11

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2025, filed on 31/01/2026. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 27 Jul 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 3 services

Strategy & Insights

AI & innovation strategy

CRM, Email & Loyalty

CRM & lifecycle strategy Marketing automation

Sector focus

KMO's en bedrijven in de Benelux, breed B2B

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

People 19 people mapped

This is first a build crew — 8 of 19 are developers. Within that core, Backend, Leiderschap and Full Stack stand out. There are 4 strategists around — expect thinking first, pixels second.

A

Antoine

Managing Partner & Owner

D

Dennis

Team Lead

A

Anjatiana

Consultant

A

Anna

Tech Lead

B

Benjamin

Developer

C

Chrystèle

Consultant

E

Ernst

.NET Developer

F

Flor

Presales & Technology Expert

G

Gilles

Project Manager

I

Ithiel

Consultant

J

Jeroen

.NET Developer

L

Lesley

Management Assistant

M

Medina

.NET Developer

M

Mendrika

Consultant

M

Michel

Tech Lead Zoho Solutions

M

Mirwahaj

Project Manager

P

Pieter

Tech Lead Custom Solutions

R

Robin

.NET Developer

Y

Yves

Responsible Operations

Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.

2

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 61.721

-14% versus the median

Team composition

6,9 VTE

23% women
77% men

€ 61.721

Median Data-, CRM- & martechbureau (2024) € 72.028All agencies (2024) € 59.129

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

3

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2025

14,5%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 23,1%

Inflow 2025

/

2022202320242025

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2025. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.