Piston brings cardless fleet payments to Jacksons. Jacksons Food Stores added Piston's cardless payments at 341 locations, expanding fueling options for commercial fleets. October 14, 2026. 10:25 AM CUPERTINO, Calif. - Piston has expanded its cardless fleet payment network to 341 Jacksons Food Stores locations across the western United States, offering commercial fleets more fueling options and providing Jacksons with another channel for commercial fuel volume. The locations are now live on Piston's network. The company's technology lets drivers authorize and pay for fuel on a mobile device instead of using a physical fleet card. Transactions are tied to individual drivers and vehicles, giving fleet operators real-time visibility into fuel purchases. Piston connects directly to retailers' point-of-sale systems, which the company says provides additional transaction data for fraud prevention and reduces the number of intermediaries involved in processing fleet fuel purchases. "Every merchant partner makes our network more valuable to the fleets that rely on it," said Vikram Sekhon, co-founder and CEO of Piston. "Jacksons has a strong presence across the West, and bringing hundreds of new locations onto Piston at once gives fleet operators more flexibility when planning routes. It also connects Jacksons directly with the commercial fuel demand on our network." Founded in 1975 with a single service station in Caldwell, Idaho, Jacksons has grown into a family-owned convenience store operator with locations across Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California, Montana, and Utah. Its stores operate under the Jacksons Food Stores and ExtraMile by Jacksons banners. "Commercial fueling is an important part of our business, and the way fleets pay is changing," said Cory Jackson, president of Jacksons Food Stores. "Working with Piston helps us keep pace with that shift and makes Jacksons a practical stop for fleets using modern payment technology." Piston said its payment volume has increased eightfold over the past year, and its merchant network has grown 40-fold. The company is now live at more than 3,000 fuel stations in 48 states. The expansion follows Piston's recent $15 million Series A funding round, led by FPV Ventures and joined by Spark Capital and Pear VC. The financing brought the company's total funding to $22.5 million and will support expansion of its retailer network, product development and hiring. Piston has also introduced AI-based tools, including Piston Guard, which flags or blocks suspected fraudulent purchases before they are completed, and Piston Analytics Agent, which helps fleet operators analyze fuel spending patterns.

Pear VC has closed its $333 million Fund V, taking assets under management to more than $1.1 billion. The firm also promoted Arash Afrakhteh, Ajay Kamat, and Shravan Reddy to general partner. Most of the fund will go to new pre-seed and seed investments over roughly two and a half years. The rest is reserved for follow-on investments in breakout companies. Founded in 2013, Pear focuses on reaching founders before their potential is obvious, often before a company exists. Its PearX programme accepts fewer than 1% of applicants, and more than 6,000 startups applied to the Summer 2026 cohort. About 80% of PearX companies go on to raise institutional seed rounds. Pear was an early backer of DoorDash, Gusto, Vanta, and Guardant Health.

Pear VC Raises $333M Fund V to Double Down on Finding Founders Before the Market Does TMCnet News [October 14, 2026] | / | Pear VC Raises $333M Fund V to Double Down on Finding Founders Before the Market Does Pear VC today announced the close of its $333 million Fund V, bringing the firm's total assets under management to more than $1.1 billion. Pear also announced the promotion of Arash Afrakhteh, Ajay Kamat, and Shravan Reddy to General Partner. As capital concentrates in fewer, larger firms, all competing for companies once they start to break out, Pear will continue to focus where it always has: reaching founders earlier. Since its founding in 2013, Pear has built a system that gives it continuous access to exceptional founder talent, from emerging student builders to experienced operators and entrepreneurs, before their potential is obvious, and often before a company even exists. Fund V is built to put that approach to work faster. The majority of the fund will be dedicated to new pre-seed and seed investments, deployed over roughly two and a half years, with capital reserved for follow-on investments in breakout companies. "Our ambition is to be the best in the world at one thing: finding extraordinary founders first, before they become obvious to the rest of the market, and helping them build extraordinary companies from zero," said Pejman Nozad, Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC. "Fund V gives us the right amount of capital to keep doing that with focus, discipline, and the same early-stage conviction that defines Pear." An engine for founder discovery Pear meets thousands of founders and builders each year through its founder programs and events, technical communities, and sourcing infrastructure. PearX, the firm's flagship program for pre-seed founders, runs twice a year and accepts fewer than 1% of applicants. More than 6,000 startups applied to the Summer 2026 cohort alone. This model enables the firm to meet exceptional founders while their companies are still being formed. Pear investors then work closely with those founders to increase their chances of success. About 80% of PearX companies go on to raise institutional seed rounds, in some cases at valuations up to 10 times Pear's entry price. "Capital is becoming commoditized," said Mar Hershenson, Founding Managing Partner at Pear. "Access is not. AI now lets anyone buil what once took dozens of engineers. We believe the firms closest to founders at the earliest stages, not just to the financing rounds that follow, will have the advantage. Our job is to build relationships with top founder talent months, if not years, before the rest of the market realizes what they are capable of building." Built for day zero Once Pear invests in a founder, Pear's high-touch platform helps them turn an idea into a venture-scale company, from customer discovery and first hires to fundraising and go-to-market. The firm's investment team includes former founders and operators who have collectively built more than a dozen companies, and its talent team has helped make more than 300 hires across the portfolio. PearX founders work in person with Pear investors at Pear Studio, the firm's 14,000-square-foot San Francisco hub. Since its first fund, Pear has invested in category leaders like DoorDash, Gusto, Vanta, Guardant Health, and Affinity. More recently, companies Pear first backed at pre-seed or seed in the past few years have announced major milestones: * Listen Labs, an AI customer research platform, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Salesforce. * Forus, an AI network for medicine, raised a $150 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation led by Bain Capital Ventures, tripling its valuation four months after its Series B. * Gravis Robotics, the builder of autonomous earthmoving technology, raised a $200 million Series A, the largest in construction robotics history * Vals AI (PearX S23), an independent evaluator of AI models, raised $40 million led by Andreessen Horowitz. * Andera (PearX S24), an AI-native platform for automated SOX testing, raised $37 million led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. * Phinity Labs (PearX S25), which is building fully autonomous chip design, reached eight figures in annualized run rate. The next generation of Pear As Pear invests in the next generation of category-defining companies with Fund V, three of its investors have been promoted to General Partner. * Arash Afrakhteh joined Pear in 2020 and invests in enterprise and B2B companies across AI/ML, cloud, and data infrastructure. He previously co-founded Cariden Technologies, acquired by Cisco in 2012. * Ajay Kamat joined Pear in 2015 and invests in consumer, fintech, and healthcare companies. He previously co-founded Wedding Party, a Pear-backed company acquired by Instacart, and served as its CEO. * Shravan Reddy joined Pear in 2024 and invests in AI infrastructure, robotics, and vertical AI companies. He previously co-founded Pixelapse, acquired by Dropbox, and led engineering teams at Stripe. "Arash, Ajay, and Shravan each embody what makes Pear special: deep care for founders, exceptional leadership, and a selfless commitment to our community," said Nozad and Hershenson, Founding Managing Partners at Pear. "For us, this is one of the most meaningful milestones in Pear's history. Thirteen years after starting the firm, we now have a new generation of General Partners who have grown with Pear and will help build what comes next." About Pear VC Pear VC is an early-stage venture firm that partners with founders to turn ideas into enduring companies. Founded in 2013, Pear was an early backer of DoorDash, Gusto, Vanta, Guardant Health, Listen Labs, and Forus and invests at pre-seed and seed across AI, B2B, biotech, consumer, deep tech, fintech, and healthcare. Learn more at pear.vc. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261014575623/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage] |