It’s fun thinking about different ways to incorporate tech. I’ll just throw out my ideas.
I think it’s great to provide flexibility in terms of amount invested and the corresponding odds. Sort of a low-luck system where the odds improve based on how much you pay.
As for cost, maybe some of the cost (and risk) could be punted forward as an ongoing cost. You get your tech, but risk an ongoing cost of x per turn for y number of rounds, where x & y vary. This would maintain the element of variability and risk - instead of the risky part being whether or not you get the tech, it would be how much it would cost you on an ongoing basis. And at the end of the day, it would be a way of impacting unit cost without over-or under-charging for units.