Pie, an AI-powered growth platform for small businesses, announced an investment from Amex Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of American Express, to accelerate its expansion of platform partnerships, product suite, and team. 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.

The funding supports Pie’s mission to help small business owners manage their presence across digital and AI-powered experiences without requiring significant time, budget, or expertise. Pie’s platform addresses the challenge of understanding which marketing activities drive meaningful business results by connecting customer engagement to measurable outcomes.

Product Offerings

Pie operates through three core offerings designed to improve visibility and acquire customers:

"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."

Strategic Partnerships

Pie’s go-to-market strategy centers on partnerships with vertical software platforms serving small businesses. The company recently partnered with MoeGo, integrating Pie’s growth capabilities into software used by over 10,000 modern pet care businesses. This integration helps operators attract prospective customers across local discovery channels and connect 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."

Participating MoeGo businesses generated an average of 15x return on ad spend in the first few weeks. The rollout builds on momentum across categories including auto repair, pet care, fitness and beauty services.

Operational Performance

While in stealth, Pie reached thousands of small business customers and drove more than 100,000 phone calls to client businesses. Many customers achieved 15% to 20% year-over-year sales growth.

What the Numbers Show

The reported 15x return on ad spend for early MoeGo partners indicates strong initial efficiency in customer acquisition costs relative to revenue generated. Combined with the 15% to 20% year-over-year sales growth observed among broader clients, the data suggests that Pie’s integration model effectively converts discovery activity into measurable top-line expansion for small businesses.

Company Background

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 restaurant customers. The team previously launched three products, including Toast’s first AI product, Benchmarking, which helped restaurants compare performance with similar businesses.