NEW YORK (BUSINESS WIRE) - Pie, the AI-powered growth platform for small businesses, today announced an investment from Amex Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of American Express.

The investment follows Pie’s emergence from stealth in June, and the announcement of its $19.5 million Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Capital One Ventures, Max Levchin’s SciFi VC, F-Prime, Commerce Ventures, WEX Venture Capital and existing investors. 

As customer discovery continues to evolve across digital and AI-powered experiences, many small business owners don't have the time, budget, or expertise to manage their presence across an increasingly complex landscape.

Many also rely on marketing solutions that make it difficult to understand which activities are driving meaningful business results. Pie was built to help businesses get discovered, capture demand, and connect customer engagement to measurable business outcomes.

Through three core offerings, AI Search helps businesses improve their visibility as local discovery shifts to AI-powered search experiences like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity; Growth helps businesses acquire customers across high-intent local channels like Google Maps, Yelp and Nextdoor; and Front Desk uses a voice agent to answer calls, take bookings and respond to customer questions.

“After years of building products for small businesses and hearing directly from owners, one need consistently stood out: they wanted more customers, not another tool to manage,” said Syed Ali, CEO and Co-Founder of Pie.

“We built Pie for how small businesses actually operate, meeting them where they are and taking a revenue-first approach to growth.

The investment from Amex Ventures will help us accelerate that mission and reach more of the businesses that power local economies across the country.”

“We are constantly on the lookout for innovations that deliver differentiated value to small businesses,” said Margaret Lim, Managing Director of Amex Ventures.

“Pie is doing just that – helping small businesses find new customers by combining a growing suite of sophisticated AI-powered customer acquisition capabilities with a delightful, easy-to-use experience. Syed and Akhil know this market need deeply and we are excited to be backing them.”

Pie's go-to-market strategy centers on partnerships with vertical software platforms that already serve small businesses. Pie recently partnered with MoeGo, which put Pie’s growth capabilities directly into software already used by over 10,000 modern pet care businesses, helping them attract prospective customers across local discovery channels and connect that activity to outcomes, including calls, bookings, and revenue.

“Our customers did not ask us for another marketing dashboard. They asked for a simpler way to bring in more business,” said Emma Chen, Co-Founder of MoeGo.

“Through our partnership with Pie, we can give pet-care operators a more accessible way to reach new customers and understand what is driving results. In the first few weeks, participating businesses have generated on average a 15x return on ad spend, giving us early confidence in the impact this offering can have for our customers.”

The MoeGo rollout builds on Pie’s broader momentum across categories including auto repair, pet care, fitness and beauty services. While in stealth, the company reached thousands of small business customers and drove more than 100,000 phone calls to client businesses. The company has also seen many customers achieve 15% to 20% year-over-year sales growth.

Pie was founded in 2025 by CEO Syed Ali and CTO Akhil Mantripragada, who met on Toast’s New Ventures team while developing products for the company’s restaurant customers. With Syed leading business development and Akhil leading engineering, the Toast New Ventures team launched three products, including Toast’s first AI product, Benchmarking, which helped restaurants compare their performance with similar businesses and make more informed pricing decisions.

About Pie

Pie is the AI-powered growth platform for small businesses. Through Growth, AI Search, and Front Desk, Pie helps local merchants get discovered, bring in more customers, and convert demand into revenue across the channels where customers are already looking. Learn more at getpie.com.

Contacts

Pie@avenuez.com