Digital payment startup Piston has raised $6.1 million in seed funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from Pear VC and BOND.
This round brings Piston’s total funding to $7.5 million, including a $1.4 million pre-seed round secured via the PearX accelerator.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to hire top talent across engineering, operations, and go-to-market teams, and to expand its footprint among fleet operators.
Vikram Sekhon, Co-founder and CEO, stated:
“Fuel was our second-largest expense after payroll, and the most chaotic to manage. We tried every solution on the market when we ran our own fleets, and none of them worked. So, we decided to build one ourselves from scratch without the baggage of legacy card networks.”
Founded by former fleet operators Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, Piston has developed a cardless fuel payment system where fleet drivers use QR codes via a mobile app to pay at gas stations.
Each transaction is linked to specific details such as vehicle ID, location, fuel type, and time—enhancing tracking and minimizing fraud.
The company is headquartered in Cupertino, California, and has rapidly expanded its engineering and operations team in Kolkata, India, growing from 5 to over 25 employees since April 2024.
Piston currently serves more than 120 fleet operators at over 800 gas stations, processing $20 million+ in annualized transactions, with 50% monthly volume growth.
Its platform also benefits independent gas stations, many of which operate under franchise models, by offering direct access to fleet business without requiring new POS hardware.
