Arash Afrakhteh
InvestorVenture Partner at Pear VC
Menlo Park, California
Writes $250K β $10M checks Β· typically $5M
About
Arash Afrakhteh is a Partner at Pear VC who has spent more than two decades working across startups and large technology companies. He co-founded Cariden Technologies, an infrastructure SDN company he bootstrapped for 11 years until its acquisition by Cisco, and previously held software roles at Microsoft, Apple, and Cisco. At Pear he works with enterprise and B2B startups, with a focus on AI/ML, cloud, and data infrastructure, and holds a Computer Engineering degree from Sharif University of Technology.
Arash Afrakhteh @arasha
Congrats @nerdwillz @feng_2000! @ShiplightAI automated testing and verification is removing an important bottleneck in AI powered software development! π https://t.co/6OwC6NxTWh
Feb 3, 2026 Β· β₯ 3
Arash Afrakhteh @arasha
Proud of what these teams have accomplished before and during PearX. From enterprise, to infrastructure, energy and consumer, they are tackling big problems and markets. Among them, next-gen: numerical foundational model, ERP implementation, kubernetes for your AI, RL Env π https://t.co/w5VuLIozCz
Oct 14, 2025 Β· β₯ 5
Arash Afrakhteh @arasha
Congratulations to @pearvc portfolio @ideogram_ai for raising a $80M series A and the release of a truly magical text to-image model! https://t.co/XDsX76AqQZ
Feb 29, 2024 Β· β₯ 14
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
Experience
- Pear VCPartnercurrent2020 β presentPalo Alto, California, United States
- Pear VCVisiting Partner2020Palo Alto, CA
- daffodil.aiExecutive Consultant to CEOs / Advisor / Angel Investor / Entrepreneur2016 β 2020Palo Alto, CA
- Cisco SystemsHead of Tech for WAN Infrastructure SDN2012 β 2015
- Cariden TechnologiesCTO / Co-Founder / Board of Directors2011 β 2012
- Cariden TechnologiesVP Engineering / Co-Founder / Board of Directors2001 β 2011
- KANA SoftwareDirector of Engineering2000 β 2001
- Vertical NetworksPrincipal Engineer1997 β 2000
- Apple ComputerSoftware Engineer1994 β 1997
- MicrosoftSoftware Engineer1993 β 1994
Education
- Sharif University of TechnologyBS, Computer Engineering
- Amirkabir University of Technology - Tehran PolytechnicMS - incomplete, dropped out to join Microsoft
- Stanford UniversityNDO-post graduate studies, Computer Science
Skills & more
From Arash's professional profile.
Same school
Also attended Sharif University of Technology14
+ 8 more
Also attended Amirkabir University of Technology - Tehran Polytechnic3
Also attended Stanford University1,575
+ 1,569 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Pear VC48
+ 42 more
Also worked at Cisco Systems249
+ 243 more
Also worked at KANA Software2
Also worked at Apple Computer229
+ 223 more
Colleagues at Pear VC
Network11
Investors connected to Arash in public investor directories β a warm-intro map.