Piston raises $15M in Series A led by FPV Ventures

Piston, the US headquartered tech startup with its engineering centre in Kolkata, has raised $15 million in a Series A round of funding led by FPV Ventures with participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Pear VC.

Founded by Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, Piston has built a cardless payments network connecting commercial fleets with gas stations and convenience stores. This allows fleet owners real-time visibility into fuel spending as it happens, without issuing or managing physical cards. And merchants gain direct access to commercial fuel demand, lower transaction costs, and the opportunity to capture the in-store purchases that come with repeat fleet traffic.

Piston will use the new capital to expand its payments network, advance product development, and add senior leaders across key areas of the business, per a statement. Over the next 18 months, the company aims to establish coverage across every US region. This expansion will also see Piston move beyond fuel into broader logistics payments infrastructure.

Piston co-founder & CEO Vikram Sekhon said, "Fleet fuel fraud is a physical card problem, disguised as a detection issue. We removed the card and built a network that authorises every purchase for a specific driver and vehicle at the point of sale. This round lets us expand that infrastructure until no commercial driver has to ask whether a station accepts Piston."

Piston said its India presence has also grown alongside the company's expansion in the US. Its Kolkata office, which was launched in April 2023 with a team of five, has since grown into a 25 plus member hub playing a central role in building and scaling the technology infrastructure of this startup.

Piston said as it scales its payments network nationally, its Kolkata engineering team will continue to be central to the product and technology roadmap.

The startup said the payment volume on its network increased 8x year over year, while merchant network grew 40x and customer retention remained at 98%. Its tech is now deployed at more than 2,000 stations across 48 states.