Pejman Nozad

Last updated
Pejman Nozad
Pejman Nozad.jpg
NationalityAmerican, Iranian
Occupationventure capitalist
Years active1999–present

Pejman Nozad is an Iranian-American venture capitalist known for co-founding Pear VC and Amidzad Partners. [1] He is also a former radio host and professional soccer player. [2] [3] He was ranked in the 15th spot in Forbes ' annual Midas List in 2021 and also 2022. [4] He was #1 on the seed investors list in 2024. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Nozad grew up during the Iranian Revolution. [2] [3] He attended a German school in Tehran that eventually shut down because of the ongoing conflict. [2] Nozad wrote for a sports column when he was 16 and created and hosted a sports radio talk show when he was 18. [2] [3] [6]

Career

Nozad played soccer professionally in Iran for three years before eventually moving to Germany to play soccer on a scholarship in the 1980s. [2] [7] He immigrated to the United States in 1992. [2] [8] Before taking up investing, Nozad served as a car washer, yogurt shop employee, and rug salesman at the Medallion Rug Gallery. [7] [9]

Nozad founded investment firm Amidzad Partners in 1999 with Rahim and Saeed Amidi, who also own the Medallion Rug Gallery and Plug and Play Tech Center. [7] [9] With Amidzad Partners, Nozad invested in companies such as Qwiki. [10]

He also co-founded venture firm Pear VC with Mar Henshenson under the name Pejman Mar in 2013. [11]

For his work with Pear VC, he was also ranked in the 15th spot in Forbes ' annual Midas List in 2021. [12] In 2022, he retained the number 15 rank in the Midas List [13] and was ranked number 2 on the Midas Seed List. [14]

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References

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  5. "The Midas Seed List 2024: The Early Venture Capital Backers of Tomorrow's AI Giants". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  6. "World's Best English Pronunciation App | Elsaspeak". ELSA Speak - Your 24/7 A.I English Speaking Companion. 2016-07-11. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  7. 1 2 3 "Pejman Nozad's Rugs To Riches Story". Forbes India. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  8. Loizos, Connie (2017-08-28). "Why the rise of Iranian-Americans in tech is no surprise". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  9. 1 2 Helft, Miguel (2007-09-14). "Rental Building's Good Karma Nurtures Success". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  10. "Qwiki closes $8M round led by Eduardo Saverin". VatorNews. 2011-01-20. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  11. Konrad, Alex. "Their Venture Fund Was 'A Sign Of A Bubble.' Then They Turned $1.9 Million In DoorDash Into $440 Million". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  12. "Pejman Nozad". forbes.com. 2022-02-01. Archived from the original on 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  13. "The Midas List 2022". Forbes . 2022-10-15. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. "Midas Seed 2022". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-10-20.