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(A screenshot of Piston’s fuel spend management platform. Image: Piston)

Eliminating fuel fraud with unique QR codes and flexible business rules

Piston, a Cupertino, California-based fintech startup, has secured $7.5 million in total funding to advance its cardless fuel payment platform, designed to streamline transactions for commercial fleets and gas stations. The funding comprises a $6.1 million seed round led by Spark Capital, with participation from Pear VC and BOND, following a $1.4 million pre-seed round through the PearX accelerator. Founded by former fleet operators Vikram Sekhon and Shivam Shah, Piston aims to address inefficiencies in the fuel payment ecosystem by replacing outdated card-based systems with a secure, QR-code-based payment solution.

The platform enables fleet drivers to pay at gas stations using app-generated QR codes that tie transactions to specific vehicles, times, locations, and fuel types, reducing fraud and enhancing transparency. Currently, Piston serves over 120 fleet operators across 800 gas stations, processing more than $20 million in annualized transaction volume, with a reported 50% month-over-month growth. The system benefits independent gas stations by providing access to commercial fleet demand without requiring costly hardware upgrades or intermediaries, fostering loyalty between stations and drivers while lowering operational costs.

Piston’s funding will support scaling its go-to-market operations, expanding its network of fleet and gas station partners, and hiring across engineering, operations, and marketing teams. The company, with part of its operations based in Kolkata, India, plans to double its 25-member team there within the next year. Co-founder Shivam Shah emphasized the platform’s goal of building a new fuel economy by removing friction and creating efficiency in the logistics sector.

This investment comes amid rising fuel costs and increasing fuel fraud, highlighting the need for innovative payment solutions in the transportation industry. Piston’s platform aligns with the broader trend of digital transformation in logistics, where data-driven and secure transaction systems are becoming critical for carriers, shippers, and third-party logistics providers to remain competitive. By offering a direct, intelligent payment infrastructure, Piston is positioned to modernize fleet fuel payments and drive growth in a rapidly evolving supply chain landscape.

(Fleet owners: make sure you aren’t paying for this…)

Freight Fraud Video of the Week 🤩

Michael Caney, Chief Commercial Officer at Highway, speaks on stage with Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves, at the Freight Fraud Summit in Dallas.

Trucking fleet owner sentenced to 23 years in the federal pen for fraud

(Sanjay Singh of Royal Bengal Logistics.)

Sanjay Singh, a 45-year-old resident of Coral Springs, Florida, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison on May 30, 2025, for orchestrating a $158 million Ponzi scheme through his trucking company, Royal Bengal Logistics, Inc. (RBL). Convicted in November 2024 on eight counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, Singh misled over 2,000 investors by falsely portraying RBL as a profitable enterprise. The scheme, which began in January 2020 and continued until his arrest, promised investors high returns from an expanding trucking fleet while the company was actually losing money.

Singh and his co-conspirators misrepresented RBL’s financial health, claiming it generated $1 million in monthly revenue and planned to grow its fleet to 200 trucks with a new maintenance facility in Lubbock, Texas. Instead, Singh diverted investor funds for personal use, purchasing a Mercedes, renovating his home, and engaging in day trading. The Ponzi scheme relied on new investor money to pay returns to earlier investors, sustaining the illusion of profitability until its collapse. The U.S. District Court in Miami imposed the lengthy sentence, reflecting the scheme’s scale and impact on victims.

The case, investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, underscores the growing scrutiny of fraud in the trucking industry. Posts on X highlighted public outrage over the scam, emphasizing its betrayal of trust within the logistics sector. Singh’s actions not only defrauded investors but also jeopardized the reputation of legitimate trucking businesses, prompting calls for stricter oversight.

This sentencing aligns with other recent fraud cases in trucking, such as a Texas operator indicted for illegal operations and a California owner pleading guilty to PPP fraud, indicating a broader crackdown on financial misconduct. Singh’s 23-year sentence serves as a stark warning to industry operators, reinforcing the consequences of exploiting the transportation sector for personal gain. The case also highlights the need for enhanced investor protections and regulatory measures to prevent similar schemes in the future.