Primer Raises $100M for AI Payments Platform

Primer, a London-based fintech innovator, has successfully closed a $100 million (approximately €86.2 million) Series C funding round. This significant capital injection is earmarked for advancing its artificial intelligence capabilities and fueling aggressive expansion into the United States market. The funding round was spearheaded by Sofina, with crucial participation from Peak XV Partners. Notably, all prior investors, including Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent, and Speedinvest, demonstrated continued confidence by reinvesting.

The company, founded in 2020 by veterans from payments giants like Braintree and PayPal, aims to revolutionize how finance and payments teams manage their operations. Primer's core proposition addresses the critical issue of fragmented data within payment ecosystems. As businesses increasingly adopt AI for transaction optimization and fraud detection, the lack of a unified data layer presents a substantial risk, potentially leading to flawed decision-making. Primer's platform is designed to provide a comprehensive, single source of truth for payment data, covering the entire transaction lifecycle from checkout to settlement and capturing over 400 data points per transaction.

Gabriel Le Roux, CEO and co-founder of Primer, emphasized the transformative role of AI in future business decisions, stating, "The next era of payments can only be built on complete, contextual intelligence. And that’s what Primer delivers." He highlighted that their platform processes billions of transactions annually for prominent clients such as GetYourGuide, Dialpad, and Printfu, underscoring its proven scalability and reliability in handling substantial payment volumes.

With this new funding, Primer is set to significantly enhance its proprietary AI agent, Primer Companion. Initially launched last year to provide merchants with payment query assistance and contextual insights, the AI will now evolve to autonomously optimize payment performance and execute actions within predefined parameters. This strategic shift moves Primer Companion from an analytical tool to an active operational agent, capable of proactively addressing issues and capitalizing on opportunities based on a holistic understanding of payment data.

The US market represents a key growth frontier for Primer, currently accounting for approximately one-fifth of its revenue with year-on-year Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) doubling. The company has ambitious plans to increase US revenue contribution to over a third of its total business by 2028. To support this aggressive growth trajectory, Primer intends to recruit up to 50 new employees in the region. This expansion aligns with broader fintech trends where unified payment infrastructure and AI-driven insights are becoming essential for competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving digital economy.

Jean-François Burguet, Head of Digital at Sofina, expressed strong conviction in Primer's vision, noting, "Payments are reaching a structural turning point, with merchants consolidating onto unified infrastructure and AI moving to the heart of every transaction decision." He added that Primer's established trust with demanding merchants positions it well for future success as it scales globally, particularly in the crucial US market.