Augment Ventures July 2026

Optilogic Hosts OptiCon 2026 and Launches Ada

Augment portfolio company Optilogic recently hosted OptiCon 2026 in Detroit, bringing together more than 300 supply chain innovators, executives, customers, partners, and industry experts for three days focused on the future of AI-driven supply chain design. The event included more than 30 breakout sessions and customer stories, with participation from companies including 3M, Amazon, Castrol, Discount Tire, Unilever, Nordstrom, Land O’Lakes, Penske, Bain, enVista, and ORTEC.

The central message from OptiCon was clear: supply chain design is moving from a periodic, specialist-led modeling exercise to a continuous, AI-enabled decision layer across the enterprise. This is exactly the type of transformation Augment looks for in foundational industries: software that does not simply digitize an existing workflow but expands what an organization is capable of doing.

A major highlight of the event was the launch of Ada, Optilogic’s agentic AI system purpose-built for supply chain design. Announced live at OptiCon, Ada is designed to cleanse and enrich data, build baseline models, analyze scenarios, and deploy insights across the organization. Optilogic positions Ada as a way for supply chain teams to move from manually building models and reacting to change toward generating intelligence and evaluating scenarios at enterprise scale.

This matters because supply chain leaders are under pressure to make faster, higher-quality decisions in an environment defined by disruption. Gartner reported in May 2026 that only 17% of surveyed supply chain organizations are pursuing immediate transformational redesign of processes and workflows around AI, while 83% are applying AI incrementally or scaling it gradually. Gartner also cited data readiness, employee upskilling, and fragmented vendor landscapes as constraints on broader AI orchestration. Optilogic is addressing those constraints directly by combining agentic AI, mathematical optimization, simulation, and human validation in one platform.

The customer sessions at OptiCon provided strong evidence of market pull. 3M presented on optimizing global export flows at scale across modes and geographies. Castrol discussed how it built an internal supply chain design capability with Optilogic. Discount Tire presented on using design to support growth while navigating disruption. Unilever, Nordstrom, Land O’Lakes, and Penske each highlighted distinct use cases spanning network design, routing, inventory, capacity planning, and large-scale transportation modeling.

Following the success of its Detroit conference, Optilogic is now taking OptiCon international, with OptiCon Europe scheduled for September 24, 2026, in London. The one-day European event will bring together regional supply chain leaders to explore AI-driven design, resilient supply chains, customer stories, and the next phase of Optilogic’s platform vision. To register for the event, click here!

Sonali was recently featured on Powerful Women Off the Record, hosted by Elisabeth Vealey.

In the episode, Sonali reflects on her path from India to venture capital, the lessons she has learned as both a founder and investor, and the conviction behind Augment’s work backing ambitious entrepreneurs building companies with the potential for both economic and social impact. She also shares her perspective on leadership, resilience, community, and building a career without waiting for permission.

The conversation offers a thoughtful look at Sonali’s journey and the values that continue to shape Augment’s approach to venture investing: conviction, persistence, and a belief that transformative companies are often built by founders who see opportunity before others do.

Listen to the full interview here!

Manoj Saxena Featured in Hackernoon
Trustwise Founder, Manoj Saxena, was featured in a recent conversation with Vik Bogdanov on AI, trust, and why “Alien Intelligence” may be a more accurate description than Artificial Intelligence. The discussion explored why many enterprise AI pilots struggle to reach production, the risks of deploying autonomous agents without proper context, and the need for a real trust layer as companies move faster to adopt AI. To check out the full conversation click here.

Nexxa.ai Raises Additional Capital, Featured in Forbes
Nexxa.ai was recently featured in Forbes for its work building specialized AI software for heavy industry. The company also announced additional capital, bringing total funding to more than $19 million at double the valuation from six months ago, with Renegade Partners and Axiom Partners joining the investor base. To read more, click here.

Gina Carfagno Writes Piece on Runtime Control for Enterprise AI
Gina Carfagno, CRO at Trustwise & Augment Advisor, shared a practical perspective on how enterprises can move from AI experimentation to trusted deployment. She argues that agentic AI governance cannot rely on prompts or after-the-fact observability alone but requires deterministic controls that can verify and stop non-compliant actions before they occur. Her article reinforces a core theme in enterprise AI adoption: governance, security, and accountability are the foundation for deploying AI safely at scale. To read the full piece, click here.