We invested in Augment in 2022 in a EUR 9.1 M round. Augment was founded by Jukka Peltola and Panu Lehti, who both have strong backgrounds in subscription-based business models. Initially, the company produced skis for professionals. However, the founders noticed an increase in consumer demand for micro-mobility solutions. Thus, the company pivoted in 2020 from ski manufacturing to micro-mobility solutions. At the time of writing, Augment provides its customers with monthly subscription-based e-scooter services. Technology, data, and sustainability are at the core of the business model.
Why did Trado Capital decide to invest in the company? Commuting costs and environmental concerns have driven consumers to seek alternative, low-cost transportation methods. The e-scooter business as a whole has provided a viable alternative option. However, as the industry is fragmented and thus not standardized, there is a lack of service points to repair privately owned e-scooters. Thus when e-scooters break, the consumers are faced with the option of self-repair or buying a new e-scooter. Both alternatives are costly, and self-repairing requires technical knowledge.
Augment, on the other hand, offers its subscribers the option of sending back their broken e-scooter and replacing the broken one with a working one within days, free of charge. The critical value added for the subscriber to know that in case of breakage, they are “insured” by the replacement gives Augment a considerable competitive advantage. Combined with the market size (Europe, approximately 192 million commuters per day), a team of experts, and already proven expansion capability, we believe that Augment has everything it takes to continue its strong growth.
