Pear, the eight-year-old, Palo Alto, California-based seed-stage venture firm known for identifying promising early-stage companies, recently held its seventh annual demo day this week. Despite being a virtual event, one of the presenting startups has already received a term sheet from a leading venture capital firm.

For those interested in learning more, here’s an overview of each startup that participated, presented in a concise format:

AccessBell

What it does: A video conferencing solution designed for streamlined enterprise workflows.

Website: accessbell.com

Founders: Martin Aguinis (CEO), Josh Payne (COO), Kamil Ali (CTO)

The pitch: As video communication becomes increasingly vital for both internal and external enterprise interactions, existing platforms like Zoom and WebEx excel at standalone video but lack seamless integration with diverse enterprise systems. While API tools such as Agora and Twilio offer integration capabilities, they often require significant developer effort for customization and ongoing maintenance. AccessBell aims to deliver the scalability and reliability of Zoom alongside the customizability and integration features of Twilio, all within a user-friendly, low-code and no-code platform.

The company is targeting a substantial market, projected to reach $8.6 billion in size by 2027. Current pricing for AccessBell is $27 per host per month.

FarmRaise

What it does: Provides financial solutions for farmers, fostering sustainable practices and improved profitability.

Website: farmraise.com

Founders: Jayce Hafner (CEO), Sami Tellatin (COO), Albert Abedi (Product)

The pitch: More than half of American farms lack the resources to effectively identify opportunities for improvement and achieve financial success. FarmRaise’s API connects to farmers’ bank accounts, utilizing an algorithm to assess their financial health and provide a comprehensive “farm read.” The platform continuously monitors farm data, delivering clear financial insights and tailored recommendations for improvement, as well as connecting farmers with relevant capital to enhance their financial standing. (For instance, it might suggest investments in sustainable farming techniques.)

The long-term vision includes leveraging the detailed data collected to offer insights to state governments and organizations focused on food security and climate change.

Sequel

What it does: Redesigning essential personal care products, beginning with a reimagining of the tampon.

Website: thesequelisbetter.com

Founders: Greta Meyer (CEO), Amanda Calabrese (COO)

The pitch: Sequel, founded by Stanford student-athletes, points out that seven out of 10 women express a lack of trust in tampons, a product originally designed in 1931 by a man. While newer brands like Lola employ appealing marketing, the core difference often lies in branding rather than fundamental design or performance. Sequel has concentrated on fluid mechanics, specifically slowing flow rates to prevent leaks before the tampon is fully saturated, thereby increasing user confidence in any setting, “from the boardroom to the stadium.”

The company has already filed patents and secured manufacturing partnerships, anticipating product availability through its website and retail stores next year.

Interface Bio

What it does: Harnessing the therapeutic potential of the microbiome through a high-throughput pipeline for analyzing microbes, metabolites, and treatment responses, built upon extensive research at Stanford.

Founders: Will Van Treuren, Hannah Wastyk

The pitch: The microbiome significantly influences a wide range of human diseases, including heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, and cancer. Interface’s founders, both PhDs, emphasize that microbiome-related illnesses contribute to four of the ten leading causes of death in the United States. Their approach involves a “high-speed pipeline for characterizing metabolites and their immune phenotypes,” achieved by developing a comprehensive database of microbiome-mediated chemistry, which will then be screened for potential therapeutic metabolites. (Details were partially missed during the presentation, but further information is available from the founders and the company website.)

Gryps

What it does: Addressing information silos in the construction industry by creating a unified information layer for building and facility owners, providing comprehensive access to document-centric data.

Website: gryps.io

Founders: Dareen Salama, Amir Tasbihi

The pitch: The construction industry’s complexity has resulted in a multitude of specialized software and services, leading to fragmented data and documentation across numerous platforms. Gryps aims to bridge this gap by capturing project data at completion and providing facility owners with the information needed for operations, renovations, and future projects. The platform integrates data from various construction tools, extracts embedded information, and delivers operational access through owner-focused workflows.

Expedock

What it does: Providing automation infrastructure for supply chain businesses, starting with AI-powered solutions for freight forwarders.

Website: expedock.com

Founders: King Alandy Dy (CEO), Jeff Tan (COO), Rui Aguiar (CTO)

The pitch: Freight forwarders manage the complexities of shipping containers, including finances, approvals, and paperwork for entities on both the sender and receiver sides. However, communication with these entities often relies on unstructured data like forms, documents, and emails, accounting for up to 60% of operational costs. Expedock seeks to transform the freight-forwarding industry by digitizing and automating the processing of unstructured data into various partner and governmental systems, utilizing an AI-powered software service with human oversight.

Illume

What it does: A novel approach to expressing and sharing appreciation.

Website: illumenotes.com

Founders: Sohale Sizar (CEO), Phil Armour (Engineering), Maxine Stern (Design)

The pitch: Traditional methods of expressing gratitude can be cumbersome. Paper cards require purchase and distribution, while social media acknowledgements often lack depth. Illume allows teams and individuals to create personalized, private, and shareable notes through its app or Slack integration. The startup reports that a typical card receives contributions from around 10 individuals and is offered to enterprises at $3 per user per month, targeting teams like sales organizations.

Quansa

What it does: Improving the financial well-being of Latin American workers through employer-sponsored financial care programs.

Website: quansa.io

Founders: Gonzalo Blanco, Mafalda Barros

The pitch: A significant 40% of employees in Latin America have missed work due to financial difficulties. Quansa aims to address this issue by providing employers with software that links employee payroll data with banks, fintech companies, and other financial institutions.

By channeling more customers to lenders through employers, employees can potentially access more affordable financial products, such as car loans.

SpotlightAI

What it does: Transforming sensitive customer information from a liability into an asset by using NLP techniques to identify, anonymize, and manage access to PII and other confidential business data.

Website: hellospotlight.com

Founder: Austin Osborne (CEO)

The pitch: Data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA are creating an environment where companies face risks of fines, lawsuits, and reputational damage when utilizing customer data. Spotlight’s software integrates with existing data storage systems via APIs and operates as middleware within a company’s network. Utilizing advanced NLP and OCR technologies, it detects sensitive information in unstructured data, performs various anonymization techniques, and provides a robust access control layer.

Bennu

What it does: Streamlining and closing the loop on management communication.

Website: bennu.io

Founder: Brenda Jin (CEO)

The pitch: Current work communication often occurs across disparate platforms like forms, email, Slack, and documents, resulting in disjointed timelines. Bennu offers communication loops that leverage integrations and intelligent topic suggestions to help employees prepare for meaningful management conversations efficiently.

Playbook

What it does: Automating people coordination in repeatable workflows, providing a simple system to create, execute, and track processes with teams and customers.

Website: startplaybook.com

Founders: Alkarim Lalani (CEO), Blaise Bradley (CTO)

The pitch: Managing repetitive workflows, such as collecting timecards or onboarding customers, often involves manual coordination via email and spreadsheet tracking. Playbook coordinates workflows at scale by incorporating programming concepts like variables and conditional logic, allowing users to model any process within an intuitive interface.

June Motherhood

What it does: Providing community-based care for significant life transitions, with a focus on maternal health.

Website: junemotherhood.com

Founders: Tina Beilinson (CEO), Julia Cole (COO), Sophia Richter (CPO)

The pitch: June is a digital health company centered around maternal health, prioritizing community support. Similar to Livongo’s approach to diabetes management, June combines research-backed strategies like shared appointments, peer support, and cognitive behavioral therapy to improve outcomes and reduce costs, including through weekly programs.

Wagr

What it does: Enabling users to engage in friendly bets with anyone.

Website: wagr.us

Founders: Mario Malavé (CEO), Eliana Eskinazi (CPO)

The pitch: Wagr allows sports fans to bet with peers in a social, fair, and straightforward manner. Placing a bet involves selecting a team, setting an amount, and sending the wager. Wagr determines the appropriate odds and manages the funds. Users can challenge friends, join groups, track leaderboards, and view popular bets, fostering a sense of connection. The platform charges a commission for matching users but offers free bets between friends. The initial launch is planned for Tennessee, with subsequent expansion.

Federato

What it does: Providing intelligence for a new era of risk management.

Website: federato.ai

Founders: Will Ross (CEO), William Steenbergen (CTO)

The pitch: Insurance companies are facing increasing challenges in managing risk due to the growing frequency and severity of natural catastrophes. Reinsurance is becoming less reliable, with major insurers experiencing substantial losses exceeding $600 million in single quarters.

Federato is developing an underwriter workflow that utilizes dynamic optimization to guide underwriters toward a more balanced portfolio. The software enables actuaries and portfolio analysts to translate high-level risk analysis into actionable insights for underwriters, helping them make informed decisions.

rePurpose Global

What it does: A plastic credit platform enabling consumer brands of all sizes to achieve plastic neutrality.

Website: business.repurpose.global

Founders: Svanika Balasubramanian (CEO), Aditya Siroya (CIO), Peter Wang Hjemdahl (CMO)

The pitch: Consumers are increasingly demanding that businesses address plastic waste, with 3.8 million pounds leaking into the environment every few minutes. While brands are seeking solutions, alternatives are often expensive or environmentally detrimental.

rePurpose allows brands to commit to removing a specific amount of plastic, which is then collected and recycled by the startup’s local waste management partners, with verification to ensure adherence to established standards. The startup aims to operate a profitable plastic credit market and become a comprehensive solution for companies seeking to create positive social, economic, and environmental impact.

Ladder

What it does: A professional community platform designed for the next generation of professionals.

Website: ladder.to

Founders: Akshaya Dinesh (CEO), Andrew Tan

The pitch: Recognizing the shortcomings of LinkedIn, Ladder is building a platform focused on community rather than networks. Users can join communities with like-minded individuals in their industries and roles, participate in AMAs with experts, share opportunities, and engage in one-on-one conversations. The startup believes the data it collects will generate higher revenue per user than LinkedIn. (Notably, this startup has already secured a term sheet.)

Exporta

What it does: A B2B wholesale marketplace connecting suppliers in Latin America with buyers in North America.

Website: exporta.io

Founders: Pierre Thys (CEO), Robert Monaco (President)

The pitch: While U.S. imports from Latin America now exceed those from China, sourcing from LatAm remains fragmented and manual. Exporta establishes on-the-ground relationships to bring LatAm suppliers onto a technology-enabled platform, matching them with U.S. buyers seeking faster turnaround times and more transparent manufacturing processes.

Via

What it does: Simplifying the process of building teams in new countries for companies.

Website: via.work

Founders: Maite Diez-Canedo, Itziar Diez-Canedo

The pitch: Establishing a team in a new country involves numerous complexities, including legal entities, contracts, payroll, benefits, accounting, tax compliance, and more. Via enables companies to quickly and compliantly build teams in new countries by leveraging local entities for legal employment, integrating contracts, payroll, and benefits into a single platform. By connecting with local hiring ecosystems, Via handles the logistical challenges for its customers, even promising to establish a team within 48 hours at a lower cost than traditional methods. (Pricing is currently $600 per employee per month in Canada and Mexico, where the service has launched.)