Primer raises $100m Series C to expand AI-led payments platform

By Aarav Garg

Primer has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round as the company looks to expand its AI-powered payments platform and strengthen its presence in the United States.

The oversubscribed round was led by Sofina, with participation from Peak XV Partners and existing investors including Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent and Speedinvest.

“In the next few years, every payment decision in a large business will be initiated, optimised or audited by AI. That shift is already underway,” said Gabriel Le Roux, CEO and co-founder of Primer. “The question is whether the data those systems run on is complete because when you deploy agents across fragmented data, they don’t just underperform, they make the wrong decision.”

Founded in 2020, Primer provides payment infrastructure designed to unify payment processors, acquirers and fraud tools into a single platform. The company said fragmented payment data continues to limit the ability of businesses to apply AI effectively across financial operations and transaction management.

Primer’s platform manages payment flows across checkout, fraud management and payouts, while capturing transaction-level data intended to provide merchants with greater visibility into payment performance and customer activity. The company processes billions of transactions annually for businesses including GetYourGuide, Dialpad and Printful.

The company said the new funding will support further investment in AI capabilities, including expansion of its AI agent, Primer Companion, which assists merchants with payment analysis and operational insights.

Primer also plans to accelerate growth in the US market, which currently represents around one-fifth of company revenue.