Cardless fleet payments startup Piston raises $15m to tackle fuel fraud

Piston, a startup that replaces physical fuel cards for commercial fleets with mobile authorisation technology, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round.

The investment was led by FPV Ventures, with participation from existing backers Spark Capital and Pear VC. It brings Piston's total funding to $22.5 million, following a $1.4 million pre-seed round and a $6.1 million seed round.

The company, founded by former fleet operators Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, plans to use the new capital to scale its payments network across the US, recruit senior leaders, and develop its product range. Piston has set a target of reaching full coverage across every US region within 18 months, before eventually expanding into broader logistics payments.

How it works

At the core of Piston's business is a push to eliminate plastic fuel cards, which are notoriously vulnerable to theft and misuse. Instead, the company's platform links fuel purchases directly to a specific driver and vehicle.

Before any fuel is pumped, the system verifies driver identity, vehicle details, location, and fleet spending policies.

"Fleet fuel fraud is a physical card problem, disguised as a detection issue," said Vikram Sekhon, Piston’s co-founder and chief executive. "We removed the card and built a network that authorises every purchase for a specific driver and vehicle at the point of sale."

Market traction and future plans

The company reports significant growth over the past year. Payment volumes have increased eightfold, while its merchant network has grown fortyfold. Piston says its customer retention rate stands at 98%, and its platform is now active at more than 2,000 fuel stations across 48 US states. Its point-of-sale integrations currently cover more than 95% of US merchant fuel sites.

While the startup targets the US commercial fleet market, its technology is built partly in India. Piston operates an engineering office in Kolkata that develops the software powering the US payments network.

Alongside its payment infrastructure, Piston is developing artificial intelligence tools to help fleet operators manage their spending. A tool called Piston Guard acts as an AI agent, analysing transaction data—including driver behaviour, vehicle locations, and historical spending—to flag unusual activity. Another tool, Analytics Agent, allows fleet managers to query spending data using natural language, helping them identify trends and compare costs across different vehicles and stations.

For fuel retailers, Piston claims its platform offers access to commercial fleet demand while lowering overall transaction costs compared to traditional card networks.