AI Researcher Grant

AI Researcher Grant is sponsored by Pear VC. The Pear AI Researcher Grant is a program for entrepreneurial PhDs, PhD graduates, and Professors to push the boundaries of their research towards solving real-world applications and turning them into world-changing companies.

Pear AI Researcher Grant Info Session: Fireside chat with Susie Wee, PhD, CEO and Co-founder of DevAI We're excited to be launching our Pear AI Researcher Grant, a program for entrepreneurial PhDs and Professors. Come learn more about the program and also meet the Pear AI team and hear from Susie Wee, a Pear PhD Founder, our keynote fireside guest.

Learn more about our new community of PhDs and Professors building in AI and win $250K, with an additional $600k in cloud credits. Push the boundaries of your research towards solving real world applications and turning them into world changing companies. Join a community of like-minded entrepreneurial academics who has a passion for solving complex problems, pushing the boundaries of AI, and advancing knowledge.

Pear has a track record of backing incredible PhDs and professors and helping turn their ideas into reality. Learn more and apply here. Susie Wee, PhD, CEO and Co-founder of DevAI Susie Wee is the CEO and Co-Founder of DevAI, focused on developing network intelligence agents for enterprise IT teams and has raised from top investors including Pear VC, Emergence Capital and Base10.

Susie is the SVP and CTO of Cisco DevNet Ecosystem Success, where she leads Cisco’s global developer program and drives innovation across Cisco platforms. She founded DevNet, growing it into a community of over 500,000 developers and launching industry-recognized certifications.

Previously, she was VP and Chief Technology & Experience Officer for Cisco’s Collaboration group and held leadership roles at HP, including Lab Director and CTO. She has authored over 50 publications, holds 57 patents, and is an IEEE Fellow. Susie serves on the board of Analog Devices and actively mentors through the International Women’s Forum.

She holds B. S. , M.

S. , and Ph. D.

degrees in EECS from MIT. Arash Afrakhteh, AI Partner at Pear VC Arash has been an entrepreneur for more than two decades, with experience at startups and big tech. He co-founded Cariden Technologies, a pioneer infrastructure SDN and bootstrapped it for 11 years to a majority market share before its acquisition by Cisco.

At Pear, Arash is focused on enterprise and B2B startups with a sub-focus on AI/ML, Cloud, and data center, data infrastructures, and SDx with x being various aspects of infrastructure. He loves working with founders from day one, getting into the trenches, and collaborating on company building, from engineering and processes, to hiring and culture, and GTM and fundraising. He believes that a leader’s impact begins with their team.

Arash is based in Menlo Park and graduated from Sharif University of Technology with a degree in Computer Engineering. Pear VC is a pre-seed and seed stage VC firm that partners with entrepreneurs from their earliest days to build category defining companies. Pear has backed iconic companies such as DoorDash, Guardant, Gusto, Branch, Vanta, Aurora Solar, and more at the earliest stages.

We've also backed PhD and Professors since inception including Ideogram, Cognition, Viz. AI, Bioage, Hertha Metals, DevAI, and beyond. We're company builders, with our Partners having founded 15+ startups.

We help companies find product-market fit, recruit their first engineering hire, and overcome other critical business challenges. Interested? Request to attend