Augment Ventures

Augment Ventures is a private equity firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded in 2011. The firm specializes in early-stage investments in capital-efficient companies within the sectors of energy efficiency, sustainability, and health and wellness. Augment Ventures focuses on transformational companies that are commercializing disruptive technologies aimed at enhancing quality of life and improving business efficiency on a global scale. The firm actively collaborates with its portfolio companies to explore new markets, forge strategic alliances, and recruit talent. Augment Ventures manages two funds, with the first targeting investments in 10 to 12 companies across various sectors, including technology and healthcare. The firm typically seeks to lead or co-invest alongside strategic partners, aiming for successful exits within four to six years.

David Armstrong

Chief Financial Officer

Nikhil Bahadur

Principal

Jeff Kontulis

Senior Associate

Nic Wetzler

Director

23 past transactions

Crowdz

Convertible Note in 2022
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

ConverSight

Seed Round in 2022
ConverSight.ai is artificial intelligence and analytics-based platform that uncovers actionable business insights for enterprises through natural language conversations and enables them to take action instantly. The platform generates tremendous efficiencies across organizational hierarchies from junior to senior leadership, reducing our customer report generation costs by over 50%. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Indianapolis.

Crowdz

Series A in 2020
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

LARQ

Series A in 2020
LARQ, Inc. manufactures and sells self-cleaning water bottles and water purification systems. The company’s bottles use UV-C LED light to eliminate bio-contaminants from water and bottle. It sells its bottles online. The company was founded in 2017 and is based in Foster City, California.

Perennial

Seed Round in 2020
Cloud Agronomics Inc. is a geospatial imaging and analytics company focused on enhancing agricultural practices through real-time data. Established in 2017 and based in Lewes, Delaware, the company utilizes remote sensing technology to provide actionable insights for farm management. Its services include monitoring crop performance, predicting yields, and assessing carbon levels, all aimed at optimizing agricultural outcomes. Additionally, Cloud Agronomics offers tools for detecting crop diseases, allowing farmers to address issues promptly and effectively, minimizing the risk of widespread outbreaks. Through its innovative approach, the company is positioned to support sustainable farming and improve crop health.

Crowdz

Series A in 2020
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

Ringo AI

Seed Round in 2019
Ringo AI is a spectral imaging technology revolution. The company is based in Santa Cruz, California.

Flume

Seed Round in 2019
Flume is bringing connectivity and intelligence to an industry that is ripe for disruption; water, or the lack thereof. The connected-home market is their initial target with their first product: a patent-pending IoT system that intelligently detects leaks, protects homes from devastating damage and enables customers to reduce consumption. The team has already established partnerships with two of the largest insurers in the world and is excited to continue expanding into the consumer market, as well as establish new partnerships with service providers and water utilities.

GeoTix

Series A in 2018
GeoTix is a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that generate new, non-advertising revenue streams for media companies through local event discovery to ticket purchase. Removing the national ticket seller from the sales process, GeoTix empowers media companies to more strongly connect with their audience, reflect their commitment to community, and leverage existing content to create new revenue streams. In return, they gain the benefits of increased income, greater brand building, higher levels of web site traffic, and the ability to foster community relationships.

Slive

Pre Seed Round in 2017
Slive focuses on medical platform development for detecting biomarkers from saliva. The platform that the company provides allows users to monitor diseases. The company was formerly known as Salvme before it changed to Slive. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Palo Alto, California.

Iteros

Series A in 2017
Iteros is an energy software company that models, controls and manages sustainable energy systems by optimizing distributed generation, energy storage, and other complementary distributed energy resource technologies. It provides an end-to-end software platform with modules for modeling and simulation, monitoring and visualization, and controls/management, enabling their customers to develop a comprehensive energy strategy to maximize profitability and reduce energy spend.

Fluid-Screen

Series A in 2017
Fluid-Screen, Inc. (FSI) is a Yale-spin off and an award-winning early-stage company based in Boston, MA. FSI has developed a microchip to replace the Petri dish to bring microbiology testing into the 21st century: drastically reducing testing times from days to minutes. The company specializes in applying cutting edge microelectronic technology to develop rapid microbiology testing solutions for a range of industries including water testing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and medical diagnostics. We are developing our first product, a bacterial detection chip, for use in sterile manufacturing processes and microbiome drug development. Our mission and a long-term goal is to enable safer living for millions of people worldwide. We need you to help us make it happen. The next generation Fluid-Screen technology will enable a handheld device that will automatically test for bacteria and viruses in liquid samples anywhere in the world. Fluid Screen’s lab-on-a-chip system detects bacteria in water, blood, or urine with a sensitivity of a single bacterium in just 30 minutes, compared to a day or more for alternative technologies. The patented technology and the team have been recognized with the Grand Prize in the Create the Future NASA Design contest (#1 out of 900 entrants worldwide), a Gold Prize in the Mass Challenge (top 1% of contenders), and ten other awards.

Rayvio

Series B in 2016
RayVio Corp. is an advanced health and hygiene company that delivers clean water and environments. RayVio helps protect billions from germs and creates new markets and revenue streams by enabling a new class of products. Its powerful and efficient UV LED technology can be integrated into a variety of applications, powering versatile on-demand solutions that give consumers control over health without chemicals or costly consumables. To learn more, please visit www.rayvio.com.

Mercatus

Series B in 2016
Mercatus, Inc. develops an enterprise-grade investment and asset management platform designed specifically for the energy sector. This platform automates various phases of the energy investment lifecycle, including origination, development, finance, and management. It enables energy producers to digitize their asset investment processes, enhancing productivity and providing real-time access to portfolio performance and risk metrics. The company also offers a PDF data extraction tool for private markets and professional services. Since its founding in 2009, Mercatus has supported over 110 GW of energy projects across 75 countries and eight different technologies. Originally established as SCS Renewables, Inc., the company rebranded to Mercatus, Inc. in May 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Rayvio

Series B in 2015
RayVio Corp. is an advanced health and hygiene company that delivers clean water and environments. RayVio helps protect billions from germs and creates new markets and revenue streams by enabling a new class of products. Its powerful and efficient UV LED technology can be integrated into a variety of applications, powering versatile on-demand solutions that give consumers control over health without chemicals or costly consumables. To learn more, please visit www.rayvio.com.

Aperia Technologies

Venture Round in 2014
Aperia Technologies, Inc. specializes in automatic tire inflation devices designed to enhance the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicles. The company's flagship product, the Halo Tire Inflator, is a ring-shaped device that utilizes the rotational motion of a wheel to automatically pump air and maintain optimal tire pressure, addressing issues such as minor leaks and temperature fluctuations. Aperia's products are utilized across various fleet vehicles, including buses, box trucks, tractors, trailers, and refuse vehicles. Founded in 2010, the company operates from Burlingame, California, and distributes its products through a network of dealers in the United States.

Revolights

Series A in 2014
Revolights, Inc. is a bicycle lighting company based in Emeryville, California, founded in 2011. The company specializes in creating, developing, marketing, and selling innovative wheel-mounted lighting systems designed to enhance visibility for cyclists. Its patented design features two narrow rings of LEDs that are mounted directly to each wheel, providing 360 degrees of illumination and a broad vertical swath of light that enhances visibility on the road. This system illuminates the ground and highlights road signs and potential obstacles, improving safety for cyclists. Revolights products are available through various retail locations across the United States, including cities such as Austin, Berkeley, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York, and Seattle, as well as in Mexico City and London. Additionally, the company offers its products for purchase online.

Lumenetix

Venture Round in 2014
Lumenetix designs and produces UL recognized LED light engines, LED light modules, and LED components and OEMs these products to LED lighting fixture manufacturers worldwide. Lumenetix LED light engines, LED light modules, and LED components incorporate game changing inventions in thermal management, controls and optics, that enable the promise of LED lighting technology - low energy consumption, eco-friendly materials, long life and extraordinary lighting controls - to be achieved. Lumenetix is a LED lighting manufacturer that is distinguished by innovative breadth and a team of LED lighting and electronic professionals with a record of practiced execution and commercial success.

Mercatus

Series A in 2014
Mercatus, Inc. develops an enterprise-grade investment and asset management platform designed specifically for the energy sector. This platform automates various phases of the energy investment lifecycle, including origination, development, finance, and management. It enables energy producers to digitize their asset investment processes, enhancing productivity and providing real-time access to portfolio performance and risk metrics. The company also offers a PDF data extraction tool for private markets and professional services. Since its founding in 2009, Mercatus has supported over 110 GW of energy projects across 75 countries and eight different technologies. Originally established as SCS Renewables, Inc., the company rebranded to Mercatus, Inc. in May 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Mercatus

Series A in 2013
Mercatus, Inc. develops an enterprise-grade investment and asset management platform designed specifically for the energy sector. This platform automates various phases of the energy investment lifecycle, including origination, development, finance, and management. It enables energy producers to digitize their asset investment processes, enhancing productivity and providing real-time access to portfolio performance and risk metrics. The company also offers a PDF data extraction tool for private markets and professional services. Since its founding in 2009, Mercatus has supported over 110 GW of energy projects across 75 countries and eight different technologies. Originally established as SCS Renewables, Inc., the company rebranded to Mercatus, Inc. in May 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Aperia Technologies

Venture Round in 2013
Aperia Technologies, Inc. specializes in automatic tire inflation devices designed to enhance the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicles. The company's flagship product, the Halo Tire Inflator, is a ring-shaped device that utilizes the rotational motion of a wheel to automatically pump air and maintain optimal tire pressure, addressing issues such as minor leaks and temperature fluctuations. Aperia's products are utilized across various fleet vehicles, including buses, box trucks, tractors, trailers, and refuse vehicles. Founded in 2010, the company operates from Burlingame, California, and distributes its products through a network of dealers in the United States.

LLamasoft

Series A in 2012
Over 750 of the world’s most innovative companies rely on LLamasoft to answer their toughest supply chain questions. Powered by the most comprehensive set of supply chain analytics, LLamasoft technology helps business leaders design the supply chain they need to achieve their profitability, service, and growth goals. Breaking down the limitations of traditional planning and operational systems, LLamasoft creates a true end-to-end view of the global supply chain to reveal the optimal design, assess trade-offs and enable decision making across strategic, tactical and operational time horizons. LLamasoft customers have already identified how they can recapture over $13B in savings and the same technology is being used to solve some of the most complex supply delivery problems in developing nations. Partnering with humanitarian organizations, government entities and as part of the World Economic Forum, LLamasoft plans to positively impact 100 million lives by 2022.

Aperia Technologies

Seed Round in 2011
Aperia Technologies, Inc. specializes in automatic tire inflation devices designed to enhance the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicles. The company's flagship product, the Halo Tire Inflator, is a ring-shaped device that utilizes the rotational motion of a wheel to automatically pump air and maintain optimal tire pressure, addressing issues such as minor leaks and temperature fluctuations. Aperia's products are utilized across various fleet vehicles, including buses, box trucks, tractors, trailers, and refuse vehicles. Founded in 2010, the company operates from Burlingame, California, and distributes its products through a network of dealers in the United States.