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Pedro David Espinoza

Graduate, Vice Provost and Dean of Research

BioPedro David Espinoza is a TEDx speaker, entrepreneur, investor, and author. In 2014, Pedro became the Founder & CEO of SmileyGo, an app that helped companies invest smarter. SmileyGo indexed the data of 1.5 million NGOs in addition to having users in 30 countries. Incubated at SkyDeck, his software startup gained funding from 1517 Fund, Frank Baxter, Jack Larson, and Berkeley Haas Seed Fund. In 2017, Janet Napolitano awarded Pedro The University of California Entrepreneur Winner. In 2018, Pedro founded Pan Peru USA, a venture that empowers women to become entrepreneurs. With the support from Fortune 500s, Pan Peru has empowered 100 female entrepreneurs. In 2019, Pedro wrote a book with Jorge Titinger with contributions from Eric Schmidt, Reed Hastings, and Dan Schulman. Pedro's book – Differences That Make A Difference – attracted 100 CEOs as contributors such as Pat Gelsinger who wrote the foreword. His book received the 2020 Best Business Book Award by Latino International.

Educated at Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard, Pedro interned as a mechanic during high school. In 2010, Pedro launched his music singles on Apple and Spotify. Pedro is the Founder & General Partner of PDE Ventures, a venture capital fund that has 20 startup investments such as Robot.com, Mocafi and Happioh. He is a limited partner at venture capital funds such as Cortado Ventures, GoodLight Capital, and 1Flourish Capital. In 2021, The Silicon Valley Business Journal recognized him as a Latin Business Leadership Honoree.

In 2016, Pedro became a distinguished keynote speaker. Microsoft, Google, and Meta are some of the companies he has given speeches. Pedro has given 300 keynotes by sharing his immigrant entrepreneurial story. In 2020, he became a lecturer at Tecnologico de Monterrey to teach entrepreneurship and engineering. In 2024, Pedro's second book – The Real ROI: Return on Inclusion – included contributions from 50 prominent CEOs, such as Michael Dell, John Hennessy, and Shellye Archambeau.

Pedro has been profiled in USA Today, Forbes, Los Angeles Tribune, MSN, Nasdaq, Yahoo Finance, CBS, Univision, Stanford Daily, Hispanic Shark Tank, Times of Israel, KRON-TV, Hispanic Executive, Latin America Reports, Berkeley Haas Magazine, Al Día News, and Latino Leaders Magazine. In 2017, The Voice of America named Pedro "The Robinhood of Technology”. Pedro serves on the board of directors of Notre Dame de Namur University, CuriOdyssey, Melzi Surgical, Silicon Valley Tech Academy, ActAware, synergEV, Hertz Peru, GESA, and Institute for International Medicine.

In 2017, Pedro gave his TEDx Talk – Build the Bridge – sharing his American Dream story having 22,000 views. In 2020, Pedro joined the Silicon Valley Leadership Group as the VP of Business Development. In 2021, Pedro was elected as the Vice Curator for Global Shapers in Palo Alto by the World Economic Forum. In 2022, Pedro got accepted to the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program as a Technology & Innovation Awardee having 23,000 followers. Later, he became the CMO of Ever Medical Technologies to lead the marketing team. In 2023, Pedro received the NextGen 30 Under 30 Award presented by Goldman Sachs. Later, Pedro was appointed to the Advisory Board of 1t.org of the World Economic Forum. In 2024, Pedro received the Silicon Valley 40 Under 40 Award presented by BMO. Pedro’s Pan Peru has given 10,000 children access to STEM education and reforested 15,000 trees. In 2025, Pedro joined the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) as Vice Chairman of Autoespar. Later that year, Pedro received the National Healthcare Service Award by INMED for his dedication to social impact, climate, and education through Pan Peru. As of 2025, Pedro’s books have been featured in the Berkeley Engineering and Stanford Business libraries. Pedro has received recognition for his success, he has received the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 HITEC 100 Awards - which features the 100 most influential Latinos.