1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Sonali Vijayavargiya was recorded in July 2020.

Sonali Vijayavargiya, Founder and Managing Partner at Augment Ventures, discusses her firm’s investment approach, including early exits.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get acquainted. Tell us a bit about your background as well as what you’re doing with Augment Ventures. What is your positioning and investment thesis?

Sonali Vijayavargiya: I grew up in India and worked with large institutions in India. I started an investment banking company there with a bunch of my friends. I did that for a while.

Then I moved to the US in 2001 and worked with a number of local entrepreneurs in the Ann Arbor area. There is a lot of research going on in these universities. I ended up mentoring and working with entrepreneurs to take their companies for financing.

In 2011, I started Augment Ventures. The thesis is for investing in enterprise software technology companies. We are generally the first professional money that is in the company. We are working with young teams where the teams are still getting formed. There is some customer engagement going on.

What we are trying to do is see how these solutions can have a massive impact on efficiency and sustainability. How can we use technology to not only impact North America but take the service all across the world?

Sramana Mitra: How big is the fund?

Sonali Vijayavargiya: The fund is about $20 million. We typically make investment ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 and then stick with the company through various rounds of funding. We have a dedicated fund and then we have a pledged portion where we are able to participate and continue to fund our company as they grow.

Sramana Mitra: What is the geographical focus?

Sonali Vijayavargiya: We are investing all over North America. Focus areas for us are the Midwest, Michigan, as well as the Bay Area. We have several portfolio companies in that region. We also have a little bit of interest and engagement in the New York and Boston area. 

Sramana Mitra: Are you based in Michigan?

Sonali Vijayavargiya: Yes. 

Sramana Mitra: When you say you’re focused on enterprise technologies, does that mean that your primary business model is SaaS?

Sonali Vijayavargiya: Not really. One of the companies that we’ve invested in is Llamasoft. It is a supply chain product that helps you optimize your network and visualize your supply chain more optimally.

They have a SaaS product which is deployed over the world. Fortune 500 companies are using that. When we talk about enterprise software companies, we’re really talking about different kinds of products whether it be in security or supply chain.

This segment is part 1 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures
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