Plumbing the Invisible Infrastructure of Every Drive You Take
Most people don't think about what happens between the moment crude oil leaves a refinery and the second it flows into their gas tank. Sameer Misson does. And he built a company around the idea that every single step in that journey - the tank gauge readings, the inventory reconciliation, the price book updates, the fleet diagnostics - deserves the same software sophistication that Wall Street takes for granted.
Gluon Solutions, which Misson co-founded on July 2, 2015, in Livermore, California, sits at an unusual intersection: automotive technology, IoT, SaaS, and fuel distribution software. It's a market dominated by legacy systems and manual processes. Gluon's pitch is that real-time data should flow as freely through a gas station as it does through a trading floor.
The company now generates approximately $25.7 million in annual revenue, employs around 25 people, and runs offices in Livermore, Portland (Oregon), and two cities in India - Gurugram and Bengaluru. Three flagship products anchor the portfolio: Petromo for fuel station and convenience store management, Gluon Auto for vehicle and fleet monitoring, and EZ Lister for auto parts catalog and fitment tools.
Petromo alone is deployed across more than 100 businesses. In an industry that still relies heavily on spreadsheets and legacy point-of-sale systems, that's a meaningful foothold.
Quick Facts
Industries
Three Products. One Ecosystem.
Full-stack management software for fuel stations and convenience stores. Handles price book management, inventory reconciliation, ATG (automated tank gauge) integration, POS integration, scan data, and real-time alerts.
IoT platform for vehicle monitoring and fleet management. Tracks vehicle health, delivers remote diagnostics, and connects cars to the wider Gluon automotive ecosystem via real-time sensor data.
Auto parts catalog and fitment tools for retailers and wholesalers. Standardizes auto parts data, enables marketplace listings, prevents costly returns through fitment accuracy, and integrates with e-commerce systems.
Sameer Misson grew up adjacent to the automotive industry. His family's company, Mission Trading Company (MTC Parts), was founded in 1979 as an automotive repair shop before pivoting in 1984 to manufacturing and importing high-quality aftermarket auto parts. The business became a worldwide operation with brands including MTC, Goldflex, Ronak, Seerat, and even a "Sameer" branded line - suggesting the family's commitment to the trade was literal enough to name products after themselves.
Before founding Gluon, he worked his way up at MTC Parts from Vice President to COO. He watched an entire industry - fuel distribution, auto parts, fleet management - run on processes that hadn't changed much since the 1990s. Manual tank readings. Spreadsheet inventory. Paper-based price books. He saw the gap between what was technically possible and what operators were actually using.
The Gluon founding in July 2015 brought together four co-founders: Sameer Misson, Hakam Misson, Narinder Bajwa (who became CIO), and Stuart Hockman (board member). The name itself is a reference to the subatomic particle that binds quarks together - fitting for a company whose explicit mission is to bind disconnected automotive systems into a single coherent network.
"Gluon is connecting enterprises, consumers, and cars with IoT, AI, and blockchain."
- Sameer Misson, Gluon Solutions press releaseIn August 2017, Gluon raised a $2 million Series A. The same month, Misson launched the GLU token - an ICO on the Stratis blockchain platform, making Gluon the first verified project on Stratis. What set it apart from the thousand other ICOs happening in 2017: Misson voluntarily registered the offering with the SEC before regulators had made clear they intended to crack down. The J.D. from Golden Gate University Law School, which he was still completing at the time, likely informed that call.
The Unusual Path
Political science undergrad. Law school while running a startup. Coding bootcamp two years after founding a software company. Misson's approach to education looks like someone retrofitting credentials around a pre-existing curiosity - picking up the tools he needed, precisely when he needed them.
Roles Held
- CEO & Co-Founder, Gluon Solutions (2015-present)
- COO, Mission Trading Company / MTC Parts
- VP, Mission Trading Company
- Co-Founder, Qualza (software dev, US & India)
- Board Member, Nursingale (2018-2023)
Building Things Worth Protecting
Misson is a named inventor on multiple US patents co-developed with his co-founders, spanning fuel distribution hardware and vehicle diagnostics. The patents include a fuel distribution system monitoring device with a connector for fuel distribution systems, and a vehicle diagnostics device (Patent No. D843,250).
The ICO Gamble That Wasn't
When Gluon launched its GLU token ICO in August 2017, the crypto market was peaking and nearly every project was racing to raise money before regulators caught up. Misson took a different approach: he registered the offering with the SEC before anyone required him to.
The GLU token (ERC-20 standard) had a hard cap of 245,993 ETH, with 200 million tokens in total supply and 62.5% offered in the public sale. Gluon was selected as the first verified ICO on the Stratis Platform, which announced a formal partnership with Gluon in January 2018.
The Path So Far
What He's Actually Built
- Grew Gluon Solutions from a 2015 startup to ~$25.7M in annual revenue
- Raised $2M Series A in 2017
- Petromo deployed across 100+ fuel station and convenience store businesses
- First verified ICO on the Stratis blockchain platform
- Voluntarily SEC-registered blockchain offering during crypto's wildest year
- Co-inventor on US patents for fuel distribution and vehicle diagnostics hardware
- Completed J.D. while building and running a startup simultaneously
- Expanded Gluon to offices in Livermore (CA), Portland (OR), Gurugram and Bengaluru (India)
- Co-founded Qualza - a software development company with US and India presence
- Served on the Nursingale board of directors 2018-2023
Family Empire
Mission Trading Company, founded in 1979, is not just background context - it's the substrate Gluon grew out of. The family business manufactures and imports high-quality aftermarket automotive parts for Japanese, Korean, Domestic, and European vehicles, operating under several brand names including MTC, Goldflex, Ronak, Seerat, and H.S.
Hakam Misson (President of MTC) is also a co-founder of Gluon. The address shared by both companies - 6951 Southfront Road, Livermore, California - is not a coincidence. These are parallel ventures, not separate lives. Sameer serves as COO of MTC while leading Gluon as CEO. The enterprises inform each other: the deep operational knowledge from the family parts business flows directly into the software Gluon builds.
The Details That Actually Matter
Hear It From Sameer
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