Piston Raises USD 15 Mn to Scale Cardless Fuel Payments Infrastructure
Piston raises USD 15 million series A led by FPV Ventures to scale its cardless fuel payments network, engineered from Kolkata.
Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, Co-Founders, Piston
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Piston, a cardless payments platform connecting commercial fleets with gas stations, has raised USD 15 million in Series A funding led by FPV Ventures, with participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Pear VC. The round brings Piston’s total funding to USD 22.5 million.
Over the past year, Piston’s payment volume grew 8x year-over-year, its merchant network expanded 40x, and customer retention stood at 98%. The platform is now deployed at over 2,000 stations across 48 U.S. states, with point-of-sale integrations covering more than 95% of U.S. merchant fuel sites.
Piston replaces physical fuel cards with mobile authorization technology built directly into the point of sale, authorizing purchases by driver and vehicle rather than by card. The company says this addresses fraud, limited spending visibility and reconciliation issues common in the $900 billion-plus trucking industry. Fleet owners get real-time visibility into fuel spending, while merchants gain access to commercial fuel demand and lower transaction costs.
The company was founded by Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, who previously ran fleets and dealt with fuel-card fraud and administrative overhead firsthand. Piston is also expanding its product line with two AI tools: Piston Guard, which flags or blocks suspected fraudulent transactions, and the Piston Analytics Agent, which helps fleet owners analyze spending patterns.
Piston’s Kolkata office, launched in April 2023 with five employees, has grown to a 25-member team that houses the company’s entire engineering function and builds the technology powering its U.S. payments network.
The company will use the new funding to expand its national network, develop its product line, and add senior leadership. It aims to establish coverage across every U.S. region within 18 months and plans to expand beyond fuel into broader logistics payments infrastructure.
“Fleet fuel fraud is a physical card problem, disguised as a detection issue. We removed the card and built a network that authorizes every purchase for a specific driver and vehicle at the point of sale,” said Vikram Sekhon, co-founder and CEO, Piston.
Piston, a cardless payments platform connecting commercial fleets with gas stations, has raised USD 15 million in Series A funding led by FPV Ventures, with participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Pear VC. The round brings Piston’s total funding to USD 22.5 million.
Over the past year, Piston’s payment volume grew 8x year-over-year, its merchant network expanded 40x, and customer retention stood at 98%. The platform is now deployed at over 2,000 stations across 48 U.S. states, with point-of-sale integrations covering more than 95% of U.S. merchant fuel sites.
Piston replaces physical fuel cards with mobile authorization technology built directly into the point of sale, authorizing purchases by driver and vehicle rather than by card. The company says this addresses fraud, limited spending visibility and reconciliation issues common in the $900 billion-plus trucking industry. Fleet owners get real-time visibility into fuel spending, while merchants gain access to commercial fuel demand and lower transaction costs.
Entrepreneur Staff • Editor
Entrepreneur Staff
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