Pie brings affordable marketing tools to small businesses

Pie is targeting small and medium-size businesses with AI-powered marketing and customer service tools intended to make capabilities typically associated with larger budgets more accessible. The company emerged from stealth in June alongside a $19.5M Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Its founders, Syed Ali and Akhil Mantripragada, previously worked at Toast.

Clients pay between $300 and $500 monthly, according to Ali. Pie also covers the cost of an initial campaign as a free trial, a strategy Ali credited with helping it surpass 1,000 customers before emerging from stealth. Its customers are primarily service- and appointment-based businesses, including salons, auto repair shops, gyms and restaurants.

Its advertising product analyzes CRM transaction data and incoming calls to guide ad messaging and timing. For AI search optimization, Pie queries major LLMs daily to track brand mentions and customer questions, then creates brand websites formatted for crawlers to read.

The phone service handles bookings and routine inquiries, using CRM data and call transcripts to learn customer needs and a business’s tone. Ali said it can handle roughly 90% of incoming questions, transferring requests requiring judgment to humans. At Supercuts, where stylists also answer phones, Ali said the service has saved roughly four hours of talk time per day, freeing staff to focus on customers.