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]

Pear VC
FormerlyPejman Mar
TypePrivate
IndustryFinancial, Venture Capital, startup accelerator
Founded2013
FounderPejman Nozad, Mar Hershenson
HeadquartersMenlo Park, California, USA
Key people
Pejman Nozad, Mar Hershenson
Websitewww.pear.vc

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]

References
  1. 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. "Pejman Mar Ventures, L.P. SEC Registration". sec.report. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  4. Loizos, Connie (2016-08-16). "Pejman Mar rebrands as it unveils a $75 million new fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  5. 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. "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. "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.
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