Sonali Vijayavargiya, Founder and Managing Director of Augment Ventures, discusses market opportunities for software and AI in foundational real-sector industries.
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“Less than one percent of venture dollars are going into this sector.”
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More from Sonali Vijayavargiya
Opinion
Vijayavargiya: Concerns over the demise of SaaS are overblown
“I think the thought of SaaS demise is sort of overblown in my opinion, because for an enterprise you know, even though there are many, many tools around. They need regular cadence of update. They need regular cadence of services, which this AI native companies…”
Sonali VijayavargiyaJul 7, 2026▶ 9:42Transforming the Real Sector with Decision Intelligence with Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures | The Innovators & Investors Podcast
Opinion
Vijayavargiya: Sending an AI note taker instead of attending is unacceptable
“One of my pet peeve is like, you send a meeting invite and someone decides not to come and they send their note taker in that. No, it's not acceptable.”
Sonali VijayavargiyaJul 7, 2026▶ 25:18Transforming the Real Sector with Decision Intelligence with Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures | The Innovators & Investors Podcast
Insight
Vijayavargiya: Real-sector technology cannot rip and replace legacy systems
“These industries are deterministic. So you cannot rip and replace. You have to work with legacy systems.”
Sonali VijayavargiyaJul 7, 2026▶ 3:18Transforming the Real Sector with Decision Intelligence with Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures | The Innovators & Investors Podcast
Disclosure
Vijayavargiya: Augment backs mostly industry operators over PhD founders
“I think some of them have PhDs you know, in whatever sector they are pursuing, but a lot of them, I would say actually for us, they are more operators from the industry and fewer PhDs. They have a lived experience in that sector right? And from there, they're …”
Sonali VijayavargiyaJul 7, 2026▶ 4:12Transforming the Real Sector with Decision Intelligence with Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures | The Innovators & Investors Podcast
Disclosure
Vijayavargiya: Augment abandoned hardware investments to focus exclusively on software
“Earlier when we started the fund in 2011, we did invest in a few hardware plays, but over the years we realized to invest in a hardware play, A, you need a longer term perspective, B, you need a lot of capital, and C the sales cycle and adoption takes a lot lo…”
Sonali VijayavargiyaJul 7, 2026▶ 5:05Transforming the Real Sector with Decision Intelligence with Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures | The Innovators & Investors Podcast
Insight
Vijayavargiya: SaaS is a business model, not a technology
“SAS is not technology. It's a business model, how you sell stuff, right?”
Sonali VijayavargiyaJul 7, 2026▶ 8:13Transforming the Real Sector with Decision Intelligence with Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures | The Innovators & Investors Podcast
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