Latest news with #PearVC
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sarah Smith launches $16M fund, says AI can ‘unlock' so much for solo GPs like herself
Sarah Smith, founder and managing partner of the eponymous Sarah Smith Fund, announced Thursday the final closing of a $16 million Fund I. Smith launched her eponymous fund in 2022 and is a solo GP. She said she's 'stunned' by what AI can unlock for firms like hers, solo and next-generation. 'I can't imagine doing venture any other way now,' she said. 'While I believe company building still requires a team effort, I believe early-stage investing is best done solo.' She appreciates how she can make fast decisions that don't require committee approval. She's also taken to using AI to help her throughout this journey. 'Every day I'm dreaming of more ways to support my founders, combining my experience and network with AI,' she said. 'For example, just last week, I led a values articulation project for one of my founders,' Smith continued. 'It took me 2-3 hours of time when it previously would have taken 20. When you have an AI-native firm that can deliver 10x value in 1/10 of the time, you can scale up a large portfolio with just one person.' She said she previously had a $3 million rolling fund, and spent a year raising this Fund I. Fund I hopes to invest in 50 companies and has already backed 17, with the average check size standing at $250,000. Limited partners include Pear VC, Ulu Ventures, and Verdis Investment Management. Fund I focuses mainly on startups in the Stanford ecosystem (Smith is an alumna of the university). She has research there, too, to back up her focus. 'It has produced more unicorns and exit value than any other university in the world,' she said, citing the research done by Ilya Strebulaev that shows that 11% of unicorn founders have an association with Stanford. 'While much of the legacy Sand Hill firms spend of of their time up in SF, 45 minutes north, I'm doubling down on Stanford campus.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Sarah Smith launches $16M fund, says AI can ‘unlock' so much for solo GPs like herself
Sarah Smith, founder and managing partner of the eponymous Sarah Smith Fund, announced Thursday the final closing of a $16 million Fund I. Smith launched her eponymous fund in 2022 and is a solo GP. She said she's 'stunned' by what AI can unlock for firms like hers, solo and next-generation. 'I can't imagine doing venture any other way now,' she said. 'While I believe company building still requires a team effort, I believe early-stage investing is best done solo.' She appreciates how she can make fast decisions that don't require committee approval. She's also taken to using AI to help her throughout this journey. 'Every day I'm dreaming of more ways to support my founders, combining my experience and network with AI,' she said. 'For example, just last week, I led a values articulation project for one of my founders,' Smith continued. 'It took me 2-3 hours of time when it previously would have taken 20. When you have an AI-native firm that can deliver 10x value in 1/10 of the time, you can scale up a large portfolio with just one person.' She said she previously had a $3 million rolling fund, and spent a year raising this Fund I. Fund I hopes to invest in 50 companies and has already backed 17, with the average check size standing at $250,000. Limited partners include Pear VC, Ulu Ventures, and Verdis Investment Management. Fund I focuses mainly on startups in the Stanford ecosystem (Smith is an alumna of the university). She has research there, too, to back up her focus. 'It has produced more unicorns and exit value than any other university in the world,' she said, citing the research done by Ilya Strebulaev that shows that 11% of unicorn founders have an association with Stanford. 'While much of the legacy Sand Hill firms spend of of their time up in SF, 45 minutes north, I'm doubling down on Stanford campus.'
Entrepreneur
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Entrepreneur
Piston Raises $6.1 Million to Modernize Fleet Fuel Payments and Expand Network
Currently, Piston serves over 120 fleets across 800 stations, processing more than $20 million in annualized volume and growing by 50 per cent month over month You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Piston, a startup aiming to overhaul how commercial fleets and gas stations handle fuel payments, has raised $6.1 million in seed funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from Pear VC and BOND. This round brings the total raised by the Cupertino and Lehi-based company to $7.5 million, following a $1.4 million pre-seed round through the PearX accelerator. According to a press release issued by the company, the capital will be used to scale operations and grow its network of fleet and gas station partners. Founded by former fleet operators Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, Piston has developed a cardless payments platform designed to eliminate long-standing issues in the fuel ecosystem, including rampant card fraud and inflated retail pricing. Drivers make payments via a secure QR code generated by the Piston app, which ties each transaction to a specific vehicle, time, location, and fuel type. On the other end, gas stations plug directly into Piston's infrastructure, gaining access to real-time data and commercial customers without installing new hardware or relying on intermediaries. "Fuel was our second-largest expense after payroll, and the most chaotic to manage," said Vikram Sekhon, co-founder and CEO. "We tried every solution on the market when we ran our own fleets, and none of them worked. So we decided to build one ourselves from scratch without the baggage of legacy card networks." Currently, Piston serves over 120 fleets across 800 stations, processing more than $20 million in annualized volume and growing by 50 per cent month over month. For the 90 per cent of U.S. gas stations that are franchise-owned, Piston offers a direct path to commercial business. The company also has a growing presence in India. Its Kolkata office, launched in April 2023 with five people, now supports over 25 team members, including the entire engineering team. "Being from Kolkata and having lived and worked here for many years gave me the insight and conviction that we can build a world-class payments product from here," said co-founder Shivam Shah. "Piston isn't just replacing the fleet card, it's redefining the economics of commercial fuel payments," said Arpan Shah of Spark Capital. Shravan Reddy of Pear VC added, "They identified a huge problem impacting an underserved market, and we believe there is enormous opportunity." For fleet operators like Saga Kapital Group, the impact has been immediate. "We've lowered our fuel spend by double digits and cut reconciliation from two days to two clicks," said company president Ash Kapoor.
