# Syed Ali

> Syed Ali is the co-founder and CEO of Pie, an AI growth platform for US small businesses. A former Square operator and senior director at Toast, he founded Pie in 2025 with former Toast colleague Akhil Mantripragada. Pie announced a $19.5 million Series A led by Lightspeed in June 2026 and an investment from Amex Ventures in August 2026.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Pie
- **Organizations:** Pie, Toast, Square
- **Education:** MS, Predictive Analytics, Northwestern University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Pie in 2025., Led business development on the Toast New Ventures team that launched three products, including Benchmarking., Pie announced $23.7 million in total funding at its June 2026 public launch.

## Career timeline

- **—** — Worked at Square before joining Toast; Lightspeed describes his work winning over software platforms serving small businesses.
- **2022-2025** — Senior Director at Toast; Crunchbase lists July 2022 to August 2025. Led business development on its New Ventures team, where he worked with Akhil Mantripragada.
- **2025** — Co-founded Pie with Akhil Mantripragada; Pie launched its first AI-powered growth product late in the year.
- **2026-06** — Pie emerged from stealth and announced a $19.5 million Series A led by Lightspeed, bringing announced total funding to $23.7 million.
- **2026-08** — Pie announced an investment from Amex Ventures.
- **2026-10** — Appeared on FINTECH.TV’s Startup to Stock Exchange with Kristin Myers.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Pie in 2025.
- Led business development on the Toast New Ventures team that launched three products, including Benchmarking.
- Pie announced $23.7 million in total funding at its June 2026 public launch.
- Pie reported reaching thousands of small-business customers while in stealth.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — FINTECH.TV published an October 13 interview with Ali on local discovery, telephone bookings and measuring new customers.
- **2026-09** — FINTECH.TV published a September 2 interview with Ali on revenue growth, affordability and merchant trust.
- **2026-08** — Pie announced Amex Ventures investment on August 4, alongside its MoeGo partnership.
- **2026-06** — Pie announced its Series A and emergence from stealth on June 30.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syed-arif-ali

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/syed-ali
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25