Piston Expands Cardless Fleet Payment Network to 341 Jacksons Stores

Cupertino-based Piston has launched its cardless payment network at 341 Jacksons Food Stores sites spanning eight western states. The integration marks one of the company's biggest single-merchant deployments and pushes its total coverage beyond 3,000 fuel stations in 48 states.

Fleet managers using Piston's platform now have broader fuelling options when routing vehicles through the western US. For Jacksons, the deal opens a new channel for commercial volume without requiring the chain to support another card scheme or open-loop network. Piston's system substitutes physical fleet cards with mobile authorisation linked to individual drivers and vehicles, delivering transaction-level spend data in real time.

Piston's approach centres on direct point-of-sale integration rather than routing payments through traditional card networks. According to the company, this eliminates four intermediaries from the conventional transaction flow, improving unit economics for both retailers and fleet customers.

The direct integration also provides access to richer transaction metadata than standard card networks capture. Piston says this data powers its fraud-prevention tools, including Piston Guard — which flags or blocks suspicious transactions before settlement — and Piston Analytics Agent, which identifies spending patterns for fleet operators. Both features are marketed as AI-assisted, though the company has not released performance metrics or third-party validation.

Cory Jackson, president of Jacksons Food Stores, said commercial fuelling represents a significant revenue stream for the chain. "Working with Piston helps us keep pace with that shift and makes Jacksons a practical stop for fleets using modern payment technology," he said.

The US fleet card sector is controlled by established players including WEX, Fleetcor, and Comdata, all of which operate extensive closed-loop or open-loop networks with mature retailer and telematics integrations. Piston is betting that a cardless, mobile-native network built on direct merchant partnerships can deliver lower costs and superior data insights compared to legacy providers.

Piston reported an eightfold rise in payment volume and a fortyfold expansion of its merchant network over the past year, though it did not disclose baseline figures. The company also claims its POS integrations are certified on systems covering more than 95 percent of US merchant fuel sites — a figure that would indicate substantial infrastructure reach for a relatively young business, pending independent confirmation.

Piston closed a $15 million Series A round led by FPV Ventures earlier this year, with follow-on investment from Spark Capital and Pear VC, bringing total capital raised to $22.5 million. Proceeds will fund new merchant onboarding, product development, and hiring.

At $22.5 million in cumulative funding, Piston remains modestly capitalised relative to its expansion goals. Whether the direct-partnership strategy can achieve scale before better-funded incumbents mount a competitive response will hinge on how quickly the company adds merchant locations and processes volume across its network.