Pear VC

Last updated
Pear VC
FormerlyPejman Mar
TypePrivate
IndustryFinancial, Venture Capital, startup accelerator
Founded2013;11 years ago (2013)
FounderPejman Nozad, Mar Hershenson
Headquarters Menlo Park, California, USA
Key people
Pejman Nozad, Mar Hershenson
Website www.pear.vc

Pear VC (prior name Pejman Mar) is a seed-stage venture firm based in Menlo Park, California. [1] It was founded by Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson in 2013. [2] [3] Pear VC works with early-stage companies. The company was originally based in Palo Alto, California [3] before relocating to Menlo Park. [1]

Contents

History

The company launched under the name Pejman Mar Ventures, in 2013. [4] [5] Pear VC was founded by Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson, and features both a venture investing arm and an accelerator launched in 2014. By 2021, the accelerator had overseen 80 companies through the program. [6]

Prior to founding the company, Hershenson had founded software companies Barcelona Design, Sabio Labs, and Revel Touch. [7] [8] Nozad had served as a sports journalist, radio host, professional soccer player, and rug salesman before going into venture capital. [9]

In 2015, Pejman Mar sponsored a $250,000 startup competition at UC Berkeley. [10] [11] Over time, the company has also sponsored fellowship and entrepreneurship programs under the name “Pear Dorm” at other educational institutions such as Stanford University, Harvard University, and MIT. [5] [12] [13]

Pejman Mar rebranded as Pear VC in 2016. [4] Pear VC was one of the companies backing DoorDash prior to its launch. [5] Other companies Pear VC has supported include Guardant Health, [14] Gusto, [14] [15] Polarr [16] and Branch. [17]

For their work with Pear VC, Hershenson was ranked number 29 and Nozad was ranked 15 on Forbes’ 2021 Midas List. [18] The following year, Nozad was named number 2 on Forbes’ 2022 Midas Seed List [19] and number 15 on the regular Midas List, [20] while Hershenson was ranked number 30 on the Midas List. [20]

In 2022, Matt Birnbaum, former head of talent acquisition at Instacart, joined Pear VC as its head of talent. [21]

On the 10th of March, 2023, CNBC reported that Pear VC had urged its portfolio companies to withdraw funds from Silicon Valley Bank before SVB had collapsed. [22]

Pear raised $423m for a seed venture fund in 2023, and had also invested in Guardant Health and Gusto at the two company's inceptions. [23] It targeted pre-seed and seed investments in artificial intelligence. [24] It closed its largest fund at that point in May 2023, with investors in previous funds including the Inasmuch Foundation, Los Angeles Fire & Police Pension System, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Passport Foundation. [25]

Investment model

Pear VC mainly works with startups in their earliest stages, such as pre-seed and seed-stage companies. [26] Pear VC uses a two-pronged structure in which it houses both a venture investing arm and an accelerator. [27]

Related Research Articles

Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.

Benchmark is a venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, and Val Vaden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y Combinator</span> American startup accelerator

Y Combinator Management, LLC (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator launched in March 2005 which has been used to launch more than 4,000 companies. The accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, expanded to San Francisco in 2019, and was entirely online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies started via Y Combinator include Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Reddit, Stripe, and Twitch.

Khosla Ventures is an American venture capital firm founded by Vinod Khosla, focused on early-stage companies in the Internet, computing, mobile, financial services, agriculture, healthcare and clean technology sectors. Some of its most successful investments include Affirm, DoorDash, Square, Impossible Foods, Instacart, and OpenAI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index Ventures</span> European worldwide venture capital firm

Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/AI, and security. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has invested in a number of companies and raised approximately $5.6 billion. Index Venture partners appear frequently on Forbes’ Midas List of the top tech investors in Europe and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insight Partners</span> American investment manager

Insight Partners is a global venture capital and private equity firm that invests in high-growth technology, software, and Internet businesses. The company is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto.

Lightspeed Venture Partners is an American venture capital firm focusing on multi-stage investments in the enterprise, consumer, and health sectors. Lightspeed invests in seed, early and growth-stage companies.

Andreessen Horowitz is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AngelList</span> Website connecting startups, angel investors, and job-seekers

AngelList is a U.S. website for fundraising and connecting startups, angel investors, and limited partners. Founded in 2010, it started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startups to raise money from angel investors free of charge. Created by serial entrepreneur Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi in 2010, Avlok Kohli has been leading AngelList as its CEO since 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SOSV</span> Venture capital firm

SOSV is a venture capital firm that provides pre-seed, seed, venture and growth stage funding to startups in the technology sector. The company conducts seed accelerator programs in Asia and the United States of America.

Uncork Capital is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California, founded by Jeff Clavier. Considered one of the most active established seed funds in Silicon Valley, it has invested in companies such as Postmates, Eventbrite, Fitbit, and SendGrid.

Rothenberg Ventures, known briefly as Frontier Technology Venture Capital, was an American venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 2012 by Mike Rothenberg. It invested in more than 100 companies, including Bustle, Robinhood, Revel Systems, and SpaceX, and focused its investments on virtual reality and other frontier technologies. As of January 2021, the firm's status with the California Franchise Tax Board is "forfeited".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aileen Lee</span> American investor

Aileen Lee is a U.S. venture capital angel investor and co-founder of Cowboy Ventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theresia Gouw</span>

Theresia Gouw is an entrepreneur and venture capital investor in the technology sector. She worked at Bain & Company, Release Software and Accel Partners before co-founding Aspect Ventures, a female-led venture capital firm, in 2014. Gouw was named one of the 40 most influential minds in tech by Time Magazine. and has been recognized seven times on the Forbes Midas List as one of the "world's smartest tech investors". According to Forbes, Gouw is the richest female venture capitalist, with a net worth of approximately $500 million, primarily due to her involvement with Accel (company)'s early investment in Facebook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Fonstad</span> American venture capital investor

Jennifer Fonstad is an American venture capital investor and entrepreneur. She is the managing partner and a co-founder of the Owl Capital Group, a venture firm based in Silicon Valley. Fonstad was Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) for 17 years. She is also co-founder of angel investing network Broadway Angels. Fonstad has been recognized as a top 100 tech investor on Forbes’ Midas List twice and was named 2016 Venture Capitalist of the Year by Deloitte. She is also a Founding Member of All Raise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyan Banister</span> American investor and entrepreneur

Cyan Banister is an American angel investor and entrepreneur. She is a partner at Long Journey Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund. She was an early investor in Uber, Niantic, Postmates, DeepMind, Carta, Thumbtack, Flexport, Affirm, and SpaceX, and co-founded Zivity, an adult-themed social networking site. Banister was the first woman investing partner at the venture capital Founders Fund, where she led seed and early-stage investments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mar Hershenson</span> American electrical engineer and entrepreneur

Mar Hershenson is a Spanish-American venture capitalist, electrical engineer, professor, and business executive in the electronic design automation industry. She is the co-founder and managing partner at Pear VC. In 2021, she ranked #29 on Forbes' Midas List.

Contrary is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Formed in 2016, the firm invests across early stage companies in North America and India. Select investments from the firm include DoorDash, Anduril, Ramp, Zepto, and Vise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pejman Nozad</span> Iranian-American venture capitalist

Pejman Nozad is an Iranian-American venture capitalist known for co-founding Pear VC and Amidzad Partners. He is also a former radio host and professional soccer player. He was ranked in the 15th spot in Forbes' annual Midas List in 2021 and also 2022.

General Catalyst is a U.S.-based venture capital (VC) firm that makes early stage and growth investments. The firm has invested in global companies, including Airbnb, Kayak, Datalogix, Datto, Livongo, Gusto, Warby Parker, Oscar, Deliveroo, Lemonade, Stripe, and Snap.

References

  1. 1 2 Bradshaw, Kate. "Venture capital firm has leased historic Oasis building". www.almanacnews.com. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  2. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2022-05-21). "Pear, now nearly 10 years old and with numerous hits, looks to close its biggest fund by far". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  3. 1 2 "Pejman Mar Ventures, L.P. SEC Registration". sec.report. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  4. 1 2 Loizos, Connie (2016-08-16). "Pejman Mar rebrands as it unveils a $75 million new fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  5. 1 2 3 Konrad, Alex. "Their Venture Fund Was 'A Sign Of A Bubble.' Then They Turned $1.9 Million In DoorDash Into $440 Million". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  6. ↑ Cai, Kenrick. "Inside Pear VC's Tiny Startup Accelerator That's Creating An Alternative To Y Combinator". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  7. ↑ Rao, Leena (2012-08-21). "Revel Touch Raises $10M To Help Retailers Create Sleek Mobile Commerce Apps". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  8. ↑ Review, MIT Technology. "Innovator Under 35: Maria Hershenson, 30". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  9. ↑ Life, Kayhan (2021-04-07). "From Rug Dealing to Venture Capital: Meet Silicon Valley Superstar Pejman Nozad". KAYHAN LIFE. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  10. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2016-04-18). "Meet VC Jeremy Fiance, UC Berkeley's 24-year-old superconnector". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  11. ↑ "How UC Berkeley plans to take on Stanford in big startup game". bizjournals.com. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  12. ↑ "Free Money for Student Tech Founders - David Teten". 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  13. ↑ ParlayMe (2021-04-27). "After a decade of VC influence at Stanford, what's next?". ParlayMe. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  14. 1 2 "El fondo Pear VC elige Barcelona para expandirse en Europa". The New Barcelona Post (in European Spanish). 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  15. ↑ "Pear VC's Mar Hershenson is Doubling Down on Zero Stage Investing". 500 Global. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  16. ↑ Heater, Brian (2019-03-14). "AI photo startup Polarr raises an $11.5 million Series A". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  17. ↑ Korosec, Kirsten (2022-04-25). "Discuss investor opportunities at TC Sessions: Mobility 2022". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  18. ↑ "The Midas List 2021". Forbes. 2021-11-16. Archived from the original on 2021-11-16. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  19. ↑ "Midas Seed 2022". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  20. 1 2 "The Midas List 2022". Forbes. 2022-09-19. Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  21. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2022-03-03). "Instacart's head of talent just left to join Pear VC; here's his take on the market". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  22. ↑ "Venture capitalists urge startups to withdraw funds from crisis-laden Silicon Valley Bank". CNBC. 2023-03-10. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  23. ↑ "DoorDash-Backer Pear Raises $432 Million for Seed Venture Fund". www.bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. 2023.
  24. ↑ "Pear VC closes oversubscribed $432m seed fund". Private Equity Wire. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  25. ↑ "DoorDash-backer Pear VC closes largest fund to date". www.venturecapitaljournal.com. 2023.
  26. ↑ "Pear VC". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  27. ↑ Cai, Kenrick. "Inside Pear VC's Tiny Startup Accelerator That's Creating An Alternative To Y Combinator". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.