💸 Mar Hershenson's Pear VC Raises Fourth Fund with $432 Million in Capital Commitments
FemWealth Issue #113
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight 💸
Co-founded and co-led by Mar Hershenson, Pear VC, a Palo Alto, California-based early-stage venture firm, raised its fourth fund with $432 million in capital commitments. The firm will continue to write pre-seed and seed cheques, aiming to back life sciences, healthcare, consumer, climate, and AI startups.
“We remain as optimistic as day one. Over the last decade of building Pear, we have witnessed the market go through its fair share of ups and downs. Despite the current economic downturn, we firmly believe that there is no better time to invest at the seed stage. The market is teeming with exceptional talent starting companies, the advent of AI is propelling company building at an unprecedented pace, and sales and marketing can be done at scale with fewer resources. In light of these factors, we are confident that the next wave of iconic companies will emerge from this downturn, and we are looking forward to being their initial backers.” - Mar Hershenson, Founding Partner of Pear VC
Pear VC’s portfolio includes companies such as DoorDash (NSDQ: DASH), Guardant Health (NSDQ:GH), Senti Bio (NSDQ: SNTI), Aurora Solar, Gusto, Branch, Affinity, Vanta, and Viz.ai.
Barcelona-born Mar Hershenson is one of Forbes’ global Midas List top investors. An electrical engineer and serial entrepreneur, she founded three startups and taught engineering at Stanford for nearly a decade. She now teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford’s engineering school.
Dedicated to advancing gender equity in the tech ecosystem, she also co-founded the event Equity Summit, the organization All Raise, and Pear’s Female Founder Circles program.
Read more: Announcing Pear Fund IV: $432M to power the future of tech
DoorDash-Backer Pear Raises $432 Million for Seed Venture Fund (Bloomberg $)
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: Swing Education Raises $38 Million in Series C Funding - The San Francisco-based online marketplace, co-founded by Asha Visweswaran, connects schools and substitute teachers. Apax Partners and Reach Capital led the company’s Series C funding round.
Alloy Enterprises Raises $26M to Unlock Aluminum Fabrication at Scale - Co-founded by Alison Forsyth (CEO) and Andrea Bedell (COO), the US-based company developed a novel additive manufacturing system that provides high throughput of fully-dense aluminum parts, enabling manufacturers to scale from prototyping to production. It raised a $26 million oversubscribed Series A round led by Piva Capital and joined by new investors Unless, Flybridge Capital, MassMutual Catalyst Fund, Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition, alongside existing investors Congruent Ventures, and Riot Ventures.
Pluton Biosciences takes its carbon-fixing microbes to market with a fresh $16.6M - Co-founded and led by Elizabeth Gallegos, the US-based raised a $16.5 million Series A to commercialise a microbial cover crop that captures and sequesters carbon and nitrogen in the soil. Illumina Ventures and RA Capital led the round, joined by Fall Line Capital, the Grantham Foundation, First In Ventures, Wollemi, Radicle Growth, and iSelect.
“We have highly repeatable lab and greenhouse data for several product candidates that sequester carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere and place it in the soil. Early testing verified growth on soil during the target season on agricultural fields. Field testing this year should quantify the sequestration process and how the product affects (positively, presumably) the soil itself. - Elizabeth Gallegos, Co-founder and CEO of Pluton Biosciences
Qflow raises $9.1M to track construction receipts, making it easier to de-carbonize - Co-founded by Jade Cohen and Brittany Harris, the London-based startup allows construction teams to collect real-time materials and waste data. Systemiq Capital led the company’s Series A round, with participation from Ascension Ventures, Bridge Investment Group, Gravel Rd, Greensoil Proptech Ventures, Grosvenor, MMC, and Suffolk Tech.
“Construction is one of the most carbon intensive industries in the world. And it’s a bit of a nightmare to decarbonize because there are so many moving parts. Qflow is ultimately the simplest way of capturing all the information you need in order to understand the carbon impact of construction and then use that to decarbonize. It’s all about reducing that right way, but in the long run, it’s about unlocking the economy across urban mining.” - Brittany Harris, co-founder and CEO of Qflow
YouTuber Emma Chamberlain adds to coffee empire with ready-to-drink line - Started in 2019 by YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, the company announced $7 million in additional funding and an expanded national retail presence in the US.
Serial fintech founder Marta Krupinska launches carbon removals brokerage - Co-founded by Marta Krupinska (CEO) and Dr Gabrielle Walker (CSO), Cur8 - a UK carbon removal broker - raised £5.3m from Google Ventures and CapitalT.
Manchester-based P2P energy exchange platform UrbanChain bags €6M to provide access to affordable green energy - UrbanChain, a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy exchange platform, co-founded by Dr Somayeh Taheri, raised a £5.25 million (approximately €6M) in a Series A round led by Eurazeo.
Functional non-alcoholic spirits brand Aplós raises $5.5M - The Miami-based non-alcoholic spirits company is co-founded by Emily Onkey (Chief Marketing Officer). McCarthy Capital led its Series A funding round.
Hybr1d raises $3.2m, eyes global workforce management expansion - Co-founded by Pauline Wetzer, the Singapore-based workforce management platform raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding. Global Founders Capital, MS&AD, 468 Capital, and 1982 Ventures invested in the round.
Sailing towards sustainability: zero44 secures €2.5 million funding for CO2 management in the shipping industry - Co-founded and co-led by Friederike Hesse, zero44 enables shipping companies, charterers, and ship managers to set up optimal CO2 strategies and reduce their CO2 footprint. Atlantic Labs led the round, joined by Starthub Ventures, Bernhard Schulte Innoport, and business angels from the logistics and shipping industry.
Dutch fintech Klearly raises €2.1 million and officially launches its payments app in the Netherlands - Eva Rosa Bian is the company’s co-founder and COO. Antler and Global PayTech Ventures led the pre-seed round.
Jaguar Land Rover's VC arm backed a $2 million round in plant-based leather startup Uncaged Innovations (Business Insider $) - Stephanie Downs (CEO) and Dr. Xiaokun Wang (CTO) are Uncaged Innovations’ co-founders. The US-based biotech startup offers a plastic- and animal-free alternative that mimics the characteristics of traditional leather but uses plants. InMotion Ventures (Jaguar Land Rover’s investment arm) led the pre-seed round, with additional funds provided by VegInvest, Stray Dog Capital, Alwyn Capital, Hack Capital, and GlassWalls Syndicate.
Singapore-based cycle care startup Blood raises $1.5M in Series A funding - Co-founded by Peck Ying Tan, Blood, a Singapore-based DTC startup, has raised $1.5M in Series A funding from DSG Consumer Partners with participation from AngelCentral. The company is on a mission to revolutionize period products and challenge the societal taboos associated with menstruation in Southeast Asia.
Rosy Wellness Secures $1.2M to Further Democratize Women’s Sexual Health - Founded and led by Dr. Lyndsey Harper, women’s sexual health startup Rosy Wellness secured $1.2M in a bridge funding round, bringing its total funding to $4.2 million.
Amsterdam-based sextech startup Quinky secures €100K from Antler - Co-founded and led by Mariia Plotkina, the sexual education startup targeting Gen Z audiences addresses the inadequacies of existing sexual and romantic relationship advice platforms.
HackCapital launches Odin, Bunch and Vauban competitor - Emilie Dellecker (Community & Culture) and Camille Bossel (Legal & Product) are two of HackCapital’s co-founders. The Switzerland-based investment platform for small-ticket investors in both startups and VC funds will also enable secondary transactions.
VC & PE: Integrum Holdings Looks to Build a More Inclusive Approach to Private Equity (WSJ $) - The New York-based private equity firm, co-founded by Ursula Burns - Xerox’s former CEO and the first African American female CEO of a Fortune 500 Company - raised $1.1 billion for a fund focused on companies in the financial and business services sectors.
Talis Capital announces first close on a new fund - Co-founded by Rohini Finch, the London-based generalist VC firm closed $100m of the $175m fund, which is its third and largest yet. Talis will lead seed and Series A rounds in tech infrastructure, climate tech, and consumer internet startups across the US, Europe, and the UK.
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Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰 Have a relaxing Sunday and an excellent week ahead!
Anamaria
Founder and Writer of FemWealth