Pejman Nozad
VCCo-Founder & Founding Managing Partner, Pear VC
Seed-stage VC ranked #1 Forbes Midas Seed
Background
Pejman Nozad is co-founder and Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC, a seed-stage venture firm based in San Francisco. An Iranian immigrant, he took an unconventional path to VC, previously working at a Palo Alto rug store before transitioning to investing. Pear VC closed its fourth fund at $432M in May 2023, one of the largest seed-dedicated funds raised at that time. Nozad has been a seed investor in DoorDash, Dropbox, AppLovin, Gusto, Guardant Health, and others, with the portfolio's combined value exceeding $300 billion by 2025. He has appeared on the Forbes Midas List every year from 2021 to 2025, ranking #1 on the Midas Seed List in 2023, 2024, and 2025. He received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2014.
Investment Thesis
Partner deeply with a small batch of seed-stage founders per year, providing capital, talent support, and hands-on community through PearX to help companies reach product-market fit fast.
Investment Focus
Stages
Typical check: $250K–$1M
Sectors
Based in: San Francisco, CA (North America)
Notable Investments
DoorDash
Food delivery; IPO 2020 (DASH)
Dropbox
Cloud storage; IPO 2018
AppLovin
Mobile ad tech; public (APP)
Gusto
HR and payroll platform; $10B+ valuation
Guardant Health
Liquid biopsy oncology; public (GH)
Branch
Mobile attribution and deep linking platform
Aurora Solar
Solar design and sales software
Nova Credit
Cross-border credit infrastructure for immigrants