PearX2027 deadline, funding, equity and how to apply

PearX is the accelerator run by Pear VC, the Bay Area seed firm founded by Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson. It is smaller and more capital heavy than most accelerators. Each cohort has no more than about 25 companies, and Pear invests between $500,000 and $2 million per company depending on stage and capital needs. Pear says it targets about 7% ownership. That makes PearX closer to a lead seed investor with a structured program attached than to a high-volume accelerator. The program runs twice a year. Winter cohorts run from January to April and summer cohorts run from July to October. Teams must relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Pear has offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park. Group programming is light, averaging about two hours a week, which leaves founders time to build while partners work closely with each company. Pear says 16 PearX companies are now valued at $100 million or more. Recent alumni include Vals AI, which raised a $40M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, Bobyard, which raised a $35M Series A led by 8VC, and Andera, which raised a $37M Series A led by Lightspeed. PearX accepts applications year round and works with founders from the idea stage onward, including technical founders coming straight out of school or industry.

PearX runs for 12 weeks with an in-person requirement in the Bay Area. Group programming averages about two hours a week, so most of the time goes to building and customer work. Each company works directly with Pear partners on product, hiring, go-to-market and fundraising. Cohorts are capped at about 25 companies, which keeps partner time per company high. Pear's investment of $500K to $2M comes at the start, so founders do not need to raise a separate pre-seed round to join. The program ends with a demo day where companies pitch to investors from Pear's network. After PearX, companies keep access to Pear's platform team, its founder community and follow-on support as they raise seed and Series A rounds.