French startup more It has witnessed the astonishing rise of online courses and edtech companies, as well as their potential when it comes to reinventing education on a large scale. That’s why the startup has been working on highly polished online courses sold as a package. Augment believes its master program can become an alternative to the traditional Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Augment recently raised a $6 million seed round led by RTP Global With other funds also participating, such as Motier Ventures, Origins Fund, Kima Ventures, Bpifrance and Financière Saint James. Several angel investors have also invested in the startup, such as Thibaud Elziere and Roxanne Varza.
The main startup program is called Increase MBA. It’s a differentiated and distinct perspective on the MBA as everything takes place online with a mix of videos from inspiring business leaders, case studies, tests, written assignments, downloadable brochures, etc.
I didn’t sign up for Augment, so I can’t tell you if this is an effective way to learn new job skills. A few months ago, the Augment team showed me some videos they were working on, like a video with Eventbrite co-founder Renaud Visage. It was highly scripted but looked great, in case you were wondering about the video production standards. It is also worth noting that the Augment MBA program is a non-accredited MBA.
But things seem to be going well so far, with Augment telling me that the course has run for six months with more than 500 students enrolled in Augment’s MBA from all over the world – 80% from the US, followed by the UK and the Middle East. countries.
Augment is not a subscription-based product. Alternatively, you can access the platform with a one-time payment. The cost of an Enhanced MBA is currently $1,750.
Founders College of Technology
In many ways, Augment feels like a replacement for Master class With a special focus on business education and a structured curriculum that goes beyond video courses. Some of the early entrepreneurs-turned-gurus include Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, YouTube founder Steve Chen, and Shazam founder Chris Barton.
A successful MBA also provides you with some networking opportunities so you can help each other in your careers after graduation. That’s why Augment is also trying to create a community around its MBA-like program with some opportunities to network with fellow students.
Augment co-founders Roy Wilner (left) and Ariel Renos (right). Image credits: Increase.
While the company’s first MBA-like program will remain its flagship program in the future, the startup is already working on other formats and subjects. Augment told me that there will be some shorter, less expensive courses on specific topics, or “mini-MBA programs” as they call them.
The startup hopes it can address three different types of professionals – aspiring entrepreneurs who want to go beyond a simple idea, managers who want to improve their leadership skills, and technical professionals who are looking for business skills to become senior leaders.
There are some high upfront costs to creating these programs, so it is important to recover some of these costs to expand the startup’s business with more programs and new sales channels (corporate offers, bundles, etc.). It will be interesting to see if Augment is able to sell its software to a larger audience now that it has its core software installed and some funding.