Pejman Nozad

Pejman is the Co-Founder and Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC. Over the past two decades, he has been a seed investor in some of the most iconic tech companies including Doordash, Dropbox, Applovin, Gusto, Guardant Health, Branch, Aurora Solar, Soundhound, CourseHero, and others.

As an immigrant from Iran, Pejman did not take the typical path towards becoming a VC. In fact, he is tech’s most unlikely venture capitalist. After arriving in the U.S., he lived in an attic above a yogurt shop and then worked at a rug store in downtown Palo Alto. He immersed himself in the vanguard of technology and slowly, with a few small investments, developed a reputation for both identifying talent and taking promising ideas to the next level.

Pejman lives in California with his wife, Mania, and their two children. He was included in the Forbes Midas List in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 and ranked #1 in the world on the Forbes Midas Seed List in 2023 and 2024. Pejman received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2014 for his contribution to America as an immigrant. Pejman started his career in Iran as a sports journalist and played soccer. He has attended 6 FIFA World Cups, two of them as an accredited journalist to cover the games.