Pie, an AI-powered growth platform serving small businesses, has secured an investment from Amex Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of American Express. The funding is intended to support the expansion of Pie’s product portfolio, platform partnerships, and workforce as the company enters its next phase of development. The investment follows Pie’s emergence from stealth in June and its previously announced $19.5 million Series A financing led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Strengthening Pie’s Small Business Growth Platform
Pie was created to address the growing complexity small businesses face when trying to attract customers across digital platforms and artificial intelligence-powered discovery channels. Many local business owners lack the time, budget, or specialized knowledge required to manage multiple marketing tools, while existing solutions often provide limited insight into which activities produce measurable commercial results. Pie aims to simplify this process by helping merchants improve their visibility, capture customer demand, and connect marketing activity directly with calls, bookings, and revenue.
The company currently provides three main products designed to support different stages of customer acquisition and engagement. Pie’s AI Search offering helps businesses increase their visibility as consumers increasingly use tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity to discover local services, while its Growth product focuses on high-intent platforms including Google Maps, Yelp, and Nextdoor. Its Front Desk service uses an AI-powered voice agent to answer incoming calls, handle bookings, and respond to customer inquiries when business owners or employees are unavailable.
Amex Ventures Backs Pie’s Expansion
Pie CEO and Co-Founder Syed Ali said the company was developed around the idea that small business owners want measurable customer growth rather than additional software they must manage themselves. According to Ali, Pie follows a revenue-focused approach that integrates with the way local businesses already operate instead of requiring owners to adopt complicated marketing workflows. He added that the investment from Amex Ventures would help the company reach more small businesses and accelerate the development of its growth platform.
Margaret Lim, Managing Director of Amex Ventures, said Pie combines sophisticated AI-powered customer acquisition capabilities with an accessible user experience tailored to small business needs. She highlighted the founders’ understanding of the market and Pie’s ability to help local merchants identify and attract new customers. Amex Ventures’ participation adds another major financial services investor to Pie’s backing alongside Capital One Ventures, WEX Venture Capital, and other institutional investors.
Partnership Strategy Drives Distribution
Pie’s market expansion strategy centers on partnerships with vertical software providers that already maintain established relationships with small businesses. One of its recent partnerships is with MoeGo, a software platform used by more than 10,000 pet care businesses, which has integrated Pie’s growth tools into its existing product environment. The partnership allows participating businesses to attract customers through local discovery channels and evaluate how those interactions translate into calls, appointments, and revenue.
MoeGo Co-Founder Emma Chen said the company’s customers were seeking a straightforward way to generate additional business rather than another marketing analytics dashboard. During the first weeks of the rollout, participating businesses reportedly generated an average return on advertising spending of approximately 15 times their investment. MoeGo views the early performance as evidence that the integrated offering could provide pet care operators with a more practical method for acquiring customers and measuring results.
Early Traction Across Local Service Industries
The MoeGo integration forms part of Pie’s broader expansion across industries including vehicle repair, fitness, beauty services, and pet care. While operating in stealth, the company reached thousands of small business customers and generated more than 100,000 phone calls for businesses using its platform. Pie also reported that a number of customers recorded annual sales growth ranging from 15% to 20%, although individual results may vary depending on the business and market.
Pie was founded in 2025 by Ali and Chief Technology Officer Akhil Mantripragada, who previously worked together within Toast’s New Ventures team. At Toast, Ali led business development while Mantripragada oversaw engineering as the team launched three products for restaurant operators. Those initiatives included Benchmarking, Toast’s first AI product, which enabled restaurants to compare their performance with similar businesses and make more informed pricing decisions.
The Amex Ventures investment provides Pie with additional capital and strategic support as it expands its AI-driven tools for small business customer acquisition. By combining local search visibility, advertising support, and automated call handling, the company is positioning itself as an integrated growth partner rather than a traditional standalone marketing platform. Pie’s ability to scale its partnerships and demonstrate consistent revenue outcomes will be central to determining whether its model can gain broader adoption across the fragmented small business market.