Payments technology firm Piston raises $15 million in Series A funding round to build out US network
Piston, a cardless payments platform that connects commercial fleets with gas stations and convenience stores, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. FPV Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Pear VC. The financing brings its total capital raised to $22.5 million.
"Commercial fuel still runs on payment technology built for another era," says Vikram Sekhon, Co-founder and CEO at Piston. "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."
"Fuel is one of the largest B2B spend categories in America, and every transaction still runs through decades old card infrastructure," says Nikunj Kothari, Partner at FPV Ventures. "Piston moves that money over its own rails, with no card networks or intermediaries in between. Vikram ran hundreds of trucks and felt this pain every day, and his co-founder Shivam recruited thousands of drivers before they wrote a line of code. This is a new payment network in a massive market, built by the people who actually lived the problem."
Piston will use the new capital to accelerate the US build-out of its payments network, advance product development, and add senior leaders across key areas of the business. Over the next 18 months, the company aims to establish coverage across every US region. This will also lay the groundwork for it to move beyond fuel into broader logistics payments infrastructure.
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Payments technology will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
