Pejman recruited Mar to join forces, and the duo formed Pejman Mar Ventures in August 2013, and then rebranded the firm as Pear VC three years later. The name Pear evokes so many aspects of entrepreneurship: Pear trees are long-lasting and strong and they need support and the right conditions to succeed. Also, when Pejman and Mar polled their founders, they thought the name brought to mind “pairing up” which is something we try to do with all of the founders we work with.

Pear’s founders are not your usual venture capitalists. Pejman immigrated to the U.S. from his native Iran with only $700 in his pocket and began investing in companies while working as a rug dealer in Palo Alto before becoming a full-time investor. Mar is originally from Barcelona, holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and is a 3x founder, so she brings deep operational and technical expertise to the table.

Pear invests in early-stage companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. In just under a decade, Pear has already yielded seven companies valued over $1B, three public companies, and many more legendary companies in the making. Some of the notable success stories to date include DoorDash, Gusto, Guardant Health, Senti Bio, Branch, Viz.ai and Aurora Solar.

Pear continues to grow rapidly, with a team of 20+ company builders and industry experts. We aim to be the best early-stage investors in the world. We have a mission to take risks on very early-stage startups, to relentlessly seek out truly exceptional founders, and partner with them to build iconic companies. We help our founders find product-market fit, craft a tailored go-to-market strategy, recruit their earliest and most critical hires, and fundraise successfully. The best is yet to come!