How to Get Funded by Pear VC: What Pre-Seed and Seed Founders Should Know After Its $333 Million Fund V

Pear VC, one of the active pre seed investors and seed stage investors in the US, announced a $333 million Fund V on October 14, 2026, and said most of it will go into new pre-seed and seed investments over about two and a half years. The Silicon Valley firm says the close brings its assets under management above $1.1 billion, which makes it one of the larger active investors at the earliest stage.

What Fund V Is For

Pear says the fund will be used mainly for first checks into new companies, with capital held back for follow-on rounds in the companies that break out. It invests across AI, business-to-business technology, biotech, consumer, deep tech, fintech and healthcare. Fund V is smaller than the $432 million Fund IV the firm raised in May 2023, a difference of about $99 million, and the firm says the new size is the right amount for what it does.

That choice stands out in a market where money has concentrated in the largest funds. The National Venture Capital Association, using PitchBook data, reported that US venture firms raised $67 billion across 585 funds in 2025. The ten largest took $22 billion, or 32.9%, up from 13% in 2021, while the other 575 funds shared about $44.9 billion, an average of roughly $78 million each. At $333 million, Pear sits well above that average and far below the headline closes.

Who Runs the Firm

Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson founded Pear in 2013 and are its founding managing partners. In the Fund V announcement they said the firm's goal is to find founders early, before they become obvious to the rest of the market, and Hershenson argued that access to founders matters more than capital, which she called commoditised.

Alongside the close, Pear promoted three partners to general partner. Arash Afrakhteh joined in 2020 and invests in enterprise and business-to-business companies across AI and machine learning, cloud and data infrastructure. He co-founded Cariden Technologies, which Cisco acquired in 2012. Ajay Kamat joined in 2015 and covers consumer, fintech and healthcare, and co-founded Wedding Party, which Instacart acquired. Shravan Reddy joined in 2024 and invests in AI infrastructure, robotics and vertical AI. He co-founded Pixelapse, which Dropbox acquired, and led engineering teams at Stripe.

For a founder, the three promotions show who to approach by sector. All three built companies before they became investors, which tends to shape how they judge a pitch.

What the Portfolio Shows

Pear's backers include DoorDash, Gusto, Vanta, Guardant Health and Affinity. More recently, Listen Labs, an AI customer-research company, signed a definitive agreement on September 29 to be acquired by Salesforce. Vals AI, which tests AI models on professional tasks, raised a $40 million Series A at a $400 million valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz. Pear took part in its $5 million seed round, and the company came through PearX, the firm's program for early companies, in 2023.

Pre Seed Investors and Seed Stage Investors: Where Pear Fits

Founders looking for pre seed investors often find lists that mix angels, accelerators and funds. Pear is a venture fund with a dedicated early-stage focus, and Fund V is sized so that first checks are most of what it does. Among seed stage investors, a fund of this size can lead a round, join one led by others or reserve money for a later round in the same company, so ask which role it expects to play in yours.

What This Means for Founders

A firm that puts most of a new fund into first checks is a sensible target if you are raising a pre-seed or seed round and are close to a product. Pear says it wants to meet founders months or years before a company is obvious, which suggests an early relationship counts for more than a polished late-stage pitch.

Be specific about what you are building and why you are the person to build it. The firm's sector list is broad, so match your company to the partner who covers your area and name that partner in your outreach. If you already have users, a prototype or an early revenue figure, lead with it.

How to Approach Pear

Warm introductions from a Pear founder or another early investor are the most reliable route. A short note works better than a long deck: say what you are building, who your first customers are and how much you are raising. Mention how a round would change your cap table, and explain what milestones it should reach before a Series A.

The firm also runs PearX for early companies, so ask about the program as another way in. Check its own announcement for current details, because program terms change.

Questions to Ask a Seed Investor

Fund size tells you how much a firm can invest in follow-ons. Ask how much of the fund is reserved for existing companies, how many new companies it plans to back each year and whether it expects to lead or join a round. A firm that holds back reserves can often support you in a later round, which affects your dilution planning.

Browse the fintech investor directory for more active funds, read the baseline mechanics of a limited partner if the term is new, or explore active capital on AngelLinx @ angellinx.ai/register.

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