Primer closes $100M Series C

Primer said on May 20 that it raised a $100 million Series C led by Belgian investment firm Sofina, giving the London-founded payments infrastructure company fresh capital to build AI tools for merchants and expand further in the United States. The company said Peak XV Partners joined the round and existing investors Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent and Speedinvest also participated. Primer described the financing as oversubscribed and said it would use the money to invest in product and hiring as it builds what it called an AI-enabled operating layer for global payments and finance. ### Who put money into the round? Sofina led the Series C, Primer said, with Peak XV Partners named as a participant alongside returning backers Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent and Speedinvest. The company did not disclose valuation terms in its announcement. Business Wire distribution of Primer’s announcement listed New York and Singapore in the dateline, underscoring the company’s push to position itself as a global payments infrastructure provider rather than a single-market software vendor. (primer.io) ET Entrepreneur and other outlets, citing the company, reported the round on May 20. ### What does Primer say it is building with the cash? (primer.io) Primer said the proceeds will accelerate investment in its product and team as it develops “AI-native infrastructure” for payments and finance teams. In its funding post, the company tied the raise directly to a view that AI systems in payments need unified transaction data rather than fragmented processor-by-processor records. Primer’s website says its platform gives finance and payments teams a unified view of transactions, and a separate product page for Primer Companion says the tool learns from billions of data points across a company’s payments flow. (finance.yahoo.com) The company has also described Companion as an AI teammate for payments that can surface issues and recommend actions. ### Why is AI central to this funding announcement? Primer framed the raise around AI rather than around geographic expansion alone. (primer.io) In the company’s announcement, CEO and co-founder Gabriel Le Roux said he started Primer in 2020 after seeing merchants struggle with fragmented payments stacks and dependence on a single payment service provider. Primer’s recent company materials show that AI has become a larger part of its product message. (primer.io) Its “about us” page says the company both raised the Series C in 2026 and launched AI Companion and Global Accounts, while a separate company blog post argues that the next phase of AI in payments depends on infrastructure and data quality. ### How does the U.S. fit into Primer’s plan? Yahoo Finance’s carry of the company’s release said Primer plans to use the funding to accelerate U.S. expansion as well as scale AI-enabled payments infrastructure. (primer.io) That places the financing in both a product buildout and market-expansion context. Third-party reports including EU-Startups and Tech in Asia, citing the company, also said the capital would support growth in the U.S. market. (primer.io) Those reports matched Primer’s own description of the round participants and the AI focus of the raise. ### What comes next after this raise? (finance.yahoo.com) Primer’s next disclosed steps are product and team investment tied to AI tools already on its site, including Primer Companion and Global Accounts. The company said on its website that the Series C will support the buildout of infrastructure “the next generation of payments and finance teams will run on.” May 20 is the date attached to the company’s funding announcement, and Primer’s public materials now present the raise and its AI product rollout as part of the same 2026 roadmap. (eu-startups.com) Sofina, Peak XV and the existing investor group are the named backers on that next phase. (primer.io)