There isn\u2019t a shortage of accelerators for startups, but one of the few that investors watch closely is PearX, a 12-week program that caps its cohorts at a mere 20 startups and is run by Pear VC, a pre-seed and seed-focused venture firm.<\/p>\n
PearX\u2019s biannual demo day is consistently attended by top venture capitalists, reflecting the historically strong caliber of companies in each batch. Some of the startups that came out of recent cohorts include Known<\/a>, which uses voice AI to match people for dates and secured funding from Forerunner Ventures. Another is Andera<\/a>, a startup that automates corporate audit and compliance tasks and raised a $37 million Series A<\/a> from Lightspeed this summer.<\/p>\n The PearX program distinguishes itself from Y Combinator, the OG of startup accelerators, in several ways. Besides being much smaller, it doesn\u2019t offer companies standard terms. Its investments can be as high as $2 million. Moreover, unlike YC, where some of the buzziest startups raise funding before the program ends, PearX claims to keep its participants under wraps until demo day.<\/p>\n TechCrunch attended Pear\u2019s latest demo day, which took place in San Francisco last week, and then stuck around to ask some of the VCs about which companies stood out to them out of the 16 startups in the batch.<\/p>\n Below are five of the companies that seemed to have generated the most buzz.<\/p>\n Speridlabs<\/p>\n What it does:\u00a0Spatial foundational models for powering robotics, gaming, and special effects.<\/p>\n Why it stood out:\u00a0While Speridlabs<\/a> is certainly not the only startup developing world models to do for 3D space what LLMs did for language, it argues that its more established competitors, including Runway, Odyssey, and Google\u2019s Genie, cannot be queried or modified. To solve this, Speridlabs built Mundus, which it calls a 3D Midjourney because it keeps its geometry persistent when a part is changed.<\/p>\n Saia<\/p>\n What it does:\u00a0Builds a fast, cost-efficient chip that runs inference directly on device.<\/p>\n Why it stood out: Nvidia\u2019s GPUs and Google\u2019s TPUs require expensive, power-hungry memory that is currently in short supply. Saia<\/a> claims to have designed a chip that bypasses traditional memory by running AI directly out of flash storage. The startup claims its chip delivers vastly superior speeds and eight times the capacity while using four times less power than Nvidia\u2019s Jetson, a leading local AI chip and board. Saia says it\u2019s already in discussions with Samsung regarding memory integration, plans to start fabricating test chips next year, and aims to launch mass production by 2028. Developing hardware is notoriously brutal, but 20-year-old founder Ayaan Govil managed to convince Pear VC co-founder Mar Hershenson, a semiconductor engineer with a PhD in circuit design, to take a chance on his vision.<\/p>\n Ren<\/p>\n What it does:\u00a0A more secure AI personal assistant.<\/p>\n Why it stood out: \u00a0Ren<\/a> claims to offer functionality similar to Muse and Instinct, but with a heavy focus on security and privacy. The startup says it keeps data on-device where possible or uses a secure private cloud, checking actions against strict user-set guardrails. Furthermore, Ren distinguishes itself from competitors that rely on human operators to place phone calls by using a fully automated voice system, keeping human involvement entirely out of the loop to protect user privacy.<\/p>\n Veros<\/p>\n What it does:\u00a0 AI native trust and estate planner.<\/p>\n Why it stood out: Setting up a trust is expensive and time-consuming. Veros<\/a> wants to simplify the work normally done by attorneys, wealth managers, and trust administrators by employing AI to recommend structures and manage assets over their lifetime. Already managing $250 million in AUM, the startup is also in the process of securing a trust charter so it can operate as a regulated trust company itself.<\/p>\n Datum<\/p>\n What it does: AI engineer for industrial design.<\/p>\n