Pear VC, a pre-seed and seed stage firm that was an early backer of food-delivery startup DoorDash, Inc., closed its fourth fund at $432 million, making it one of the largest seed funds raised in recent years by a non-multi-stage vehicle. The fund will target investments in AI. 

The firm raised $160 million for its third fund in 2019. 

Founded by managing partners Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson in 2013, Pear’s latest fund will also support PearX, the company’s early-stage bootcamp for founders, Pear’s Female Founders Circle, a community for technical female entrepreneurs, and Pear Dorm, which supports student builders. 

Today, 50% of Pear’s portfolio companies are student-founded, valued at $15 billion, including Branch, Aurora Solar, Affinity, Viz.ai and Bioage, according to the firm. 

“The new fund will bolster our mission to help early-stage founders build legendary companies from the ground up. This fund will allow us to build the infrastructure that helps founders go from idea stage to product-market fit,” said Nozad. 

Menlo Park, CA-based Pear has seeded three public companies to date, including DoorDash, Guardant Health, and Senti Bio, among others valued over $1 billion, including Gusto, Branch, Aurora Solar, and Vanta. 

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