Augment Ventures
Augment Ventures is an Ann Arbor, Michigan venture capital firm backing early-stage companies at the intersection of digitization and data across supply chain, industrial tech, and cleantech, not a water specialist. Just two of its 31 investments touch water. As of June 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Augment Ventures has backed transformational technology out of Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2011, when founder Sonali Vijayavargiya raised a first fund for cleantech and IT and wrote her opening cheque into a truck tire-inflation startup. Its thesis has always lived at the intersection of digitization and data, the unglamorous work of wiring sensors and software into supply chains, manufacturing, and the other traditional industries the coasts tend to overlook.
Augment Ventures is a Midwest fund by design, and that is the part a newcomer should hold onto. As of October 2024 it launched Augment Ventures Fund IV-MI, an $11 million sidecar backed by Michigan's State Small Business Credit Initiative, aimed at early-stage automotive, mobility, medical-device, aerospace, and advanced-manufacturing companies in the state. Across three prior funds it had made 31 investments totalling about $20.8 million, so these are modest, hands-on cheques, not megarounds.
Water is not Augment Ventures' game, and the page should say so plainly. It has backed exactly two water companies, both at the connected-device edge where its data thesis overlaps with the sector: Flume, the IoT system that clamps onto a home water meter to catch household leaks, and LARQ, the self-cleaning UV-C water bottle. Both are hardware-plus-data plays, the kind of thing a digitization fund recognises long before it would ever call itself a water investor.
Augment Ventures has not added a water name in years, and nothing in its current Fund IV mandate points back toward the category. The honest read is opportunistic rather than deliberate: water will resurface only if a Michigan or Midwest founder turns up with the same sensor-and-software shape that drew Augment to Flume and LARQ, which is why (don't) Waste Water files the fund under Occasional rather than a committed water investor.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Augment Ventures invest in?
- Augment Ventures backs early-stage companies at the intersection of digitization and data, spanning supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, industrial automation, and cleantech, with a strong focus on Michigan and the Midwest. It is a generalist technology fund, not a water specialist: only two of its portfolio companies, Flume and LARQ, touch water.
- Is Augment Ventures a water fund?
- Augment Ventures is not a water fund. It is an early-stage technology investor focused on digitization and data across traditional industries, and water appears in just two of its bets, Flume and LARQ. That is why (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional rather than Committed.
- Who runs Augment Ventures?
- Augment Ventures was founded in 2011 by Sonali Vijayavargiya, who serves as Managing Director and leads the firm from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She brings a background in project finance and investment banking, and the small Ann Arbor team includes Principal Jeffrey Kontulis alongside a sector-specific advisory board.
- Where is Augment Ventures based?
- Augment Ventures is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States, and invests across North America with a deliberate focus on Michigan and the wider Midwest. As of October 2024 it launched Fund IV-MI, an $11 million sidecar backed by the state to support Michigan startups.
- What water companies has Augment Ventures backed?
- Augment Ventures has backed two water companies, both at the connected-device edge of the sector. Flume builds an IoT monitor that clamps onto a home water meter to detect leaks, and LARQ makes a self-cleaning UV-C water bottle. Augment has not added a new water investment in years.