Primer raises $100 million in Series C funding to support US expansion and autonomous AI payment solutions.

      London-based payment startup Primer has announced a €86.2 million Series C funding round to enhance its AI payments and finance platform. The funds will also facilitate market growth in the US, where the company aims to increase revenue to over a third of its total revenue by 2028, with plans to hire up to 50 positions in the area.

      Primer specializes in financial technology, offering a unified payment infrastructure that allows businesses to streamline and oversee every step of the payment process. The platform provides comprehensive visibility and control throughout the entire payment operations system, combining payment orchestration, reconciliation, security, foreign exchange, and financial operations services into a single open layer.

      The company was established to tackle a persistent issue: businesses relying on multiple disjointed providers and tools throughout the payment process. Currently, the platform manages the entire payment lifecycle of merchants, capturing over 400 data points per transaction and processing more than 95% of customer payment volume on average.

      The investment round was led by Sofina and Peak XV Partners, along with support from existing investors such as Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent, and Speedinvest. With this latest infusion of capital, Primer has raised a total of €146.6 million, with its platform being adopted in over 30 countries.

      Founded in 2020 by Gabriel Le Roux (formerly of Braintree) and Paul Anthony (formerly of PayPal), Primer was first supported by Balderton and Accel during its pre-seed and Series A rounds. Since then, it has completed multiple investment rounds and launched new products like Fallbacks and Network Tokenization.

      In 2025, Primer introduced its proprietary AI agent, AI Companion, alongside Global Accounts, enabling businesses to optimize and manage finance more effectively. With the launch of their AI agent, they aim to address a new challenge posed by the proliferation of AI: data fragmentation across various systems, which can lead to significant vulnerabilities and potentially erroneous wide-scale decisions.

      “In the coming years, every payment decision in a large business will be initiated, optimized, or audited by AI. That transition is already happening. The critical question is whether the data those systems rely on is complete, because when operating on fragmented data, agents not only underperform but can also make incorrect decisions. That’s why the future of payments hinges on having complete, contextual intelligence. And that’s exactly what Primer provides,” stated Gabriel Le Roux, CEO and co-founder of Primer.

      The company claims to process billions of transactions annually for enterprise clients such as GetYourGuide, Dialpad, Printful, Conforama, Printify, Jackpot.com, and Maisons du Monde, among others. This latest capital investment will support the growth of Primer’s AI-centric infrastructure, which they anticipate will serve as the next-generation foundation for payments and finance teams.

      The plan includes scaling their capabilities to conduct experiments, optimize performance, and operate autonomously to facilitate contextual, AI-driven decision-making. “We aim to prevent merchants from chasing issues or losing opportunities. With complete context for every payment, Primer Companion can act on their behalf, understanding what’s happening, why, and what steps to take next,” Le Roux remarked.

      Aakash Kapoor, principal at Peak XV, noted: “As payments transition into a new architectural phase, that level of context is essential for AI agents to make informed decisions.” The US presents a significant growth opportunity for the startup, currently contributing about one-fifth of Primer’s revenue, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) in the region doubling year-over-year.