What Primer does

Primer (legal entity Primer API Limited) is a London-headquartered payments infrastructure company founded in 2020 by Gabriel Le Roux (ex-Braintree/PayPal) and Paul Anthony. It provides a unified payment orchestration platform that connects multiple payment service providers through a single API and SDK stack (Web, iOS, Android, React Native), enabling enterprise merchants to accept, optimize, and manage payments globally. The platform captures more than 400 data points per transaction and processes over 95% of customer payment volume on average, supporting a product suite organized into Accept (Checkout, Centralized Vault, Workflows), Optimize (Network Tokenization, Fallbacks, 3D Secure, AI Companion), and Manage (Observability, Monitors, Reconciliation, Costs Overview, Global Accounts). AI Companion is positioned as a proprietary agent that detects anomalies, answers complex queries, and is moving toward autonomous payment optimization.

Primer's business model is transaction-based: merchants enter Order Form agreements that define fees tied to Billable Events with potential Minimum Commitment floors, billed monthly. The company goes to market via enterprise field sales combined with an API-first, developer-led integration model, a Primer for Partners channel enabling PSPs and regional acquirers (Paysafe, HitPay) to plug into the platform with no-code integration, and direct coverage across North America, EMEA, Australasia, and Southeast Asia in 35+ countries. Named customers include GetYourGuide, Lime, Conforama, Banxa, Ferryhopper, Dabble, Jackpot.com, Printify, Printful, New Look, Maisons du Monde, AppsFlyer, Pointspay, Dialpad, Cleeng, and Eldorado, spanning travel, e-commerce, gaming, fintech, print-on-demand, retail, and crypto. Primer is venture-backed with approximately $170M raised across a Series B ($50M, Oct 2021, $425M post, led by ICONIQ Growth), a 2023 Tencent investment, and a $100M Series C in May 2026 led by Sofina with participation from Peak XV Partners and existing investors Balderton Capital, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent, and Speedinvest. The Series C is oversubscribed and explicitly earmarked for AI development and US expansion (targeting US revenue to rise from ~20% to over one-third of total by 2028, with up to 50 US roles planned).

Name

Primer

Legal name

Primer API Limited

Website

https://primer.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Primer is a London-based payment infrastructure company that provides enterprise merchants with a single API to accept, optimize, and manage payments across multiple PSPs, currencies, and 35+ countries, augmented by an AI Companion and finance-suite tooling.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Services: Primer charges merchants fees based on payment transactions processed through its platform. The fee structure includes Billable Events as described in the Order Form, with fees based on actual transaction volume and potentially a Minimum Commitment if applicable.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Primer provides unified payments infrastructure that enables merchants to accept, optimize, and manage payment operations through a single API integration. Its platform orchestrates multiple payment service providers across the full payment lifecycle from checkout to payout, capturing over 400 data points per transaction and managing more than 95% of customer payment volume. Products include Checkout, Workflows, Network Tokenization, Fallbacks, Adaptive 3DS, AI Companion, Reconciliation, Costs Overview, and Global Accounts.

Product overview

Primer is a unified payments infrastructure platform offering a modular architecture centered on its core orchestration layer. The platform comprises three product suites: Accept (Checkout, Centralized Vault, Workflows) for payment acceptance and credential management; Optimize (Network Tokenization, Fallbacks, 3D Secure, AI Companion) for performance enhancement and fraud prevention; and Manage (Observability, Monitors, Reconciliation, Costs Overview, Global Accounts) for operational visibility and finance automation. The platform is accessible via REST API and native SDKs for Web, iOS, Android, and React Native, with Primer for Partners enabling third-party PSPs to build onto the infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Primer AI Companion: Proprietary AI agent that surfaces anomalies, answers complex queries, recommends actions, and moves toward autonomous payment optimization. Works as an AI teammate for payments and finance teams.
• Primer Checkout
• Primer Workflows
• Primer for Partners
• Primer Global Accounts
• Primer Reconciliation
• Primer Costs Overview

Products and services

• Primer Checkout

Quantifiable outcome

• Banxa recovered over US$7 million in revenue using Primer Fallbacks in six months
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability6 records

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• PaysafecoreTechnology or Integration · 29 June 2026Paysafe partnered with Primer to give online merchants access to its card payment processing services through Primer's payment orchestration platform. The integration is built using Primer for Partners' no-code solution and is already live for merchants across North America, Europe, and Australasia, enabling credit and debit card transaction routing through Paysafe. Plans include expansion with additional payment methods including Skrill, Neteller, PaysafeCard, and PaysafeCash. Paysafe processes $167bn in annualised transaction volume.
• HitPaycoreTechnology or Integration · 13 January 2026Strategic partnership to help Southeast Asian merchants expand globally by integrating HitPay's merchant-of-record services with Primer's global payments infrastructure. The partnership enables merchants to accept payments in major markets like the US and Europe and simplifies international expansion by reducing system and compliance hurdles. HitPay serves more than 15,000 businesses across Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, and Malaysia and processed the integration with minimal engineering effort. Collaboration also allows Primer's international merchants to access HitPay's portfolio of over 700 alternative payment methods across Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia's cross-border e-commerce market is projected to exceed $76 billion by 2030.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Mollie: Mollie is a European payment service provider expanding into orchestration and multi-currency tools for cross-border merchants — a regional incumbent whose roadmap overlaps with Primer's enterprise value proposition in EMEA.

Broad incumbents

• Worldpay: Worldpay is a large global payment processor and acquirer serving enterprise merchants, with growing orchestration, analytics, and fraud tooling that competes with Primer's Manage and Optimize suites.
• Checkout.com: Checkout.com is a global full-stack payment processor serving enterprise merchants with acquiring, orchestration, and optimization capabilities. It competes with Primer at the enterprise tier while owning the underlying processing layer.
• Adyen: Adyen is a global acquiring and processing platform serving large enterprise merchants, increasingly adding orchestration and revenue optimization features that overlap with Primer's value proposition.
• Stripe: Stripe is a global payments platform with growing orchestration, routing, and financial connectivity capabilities (e.g., Stripe Connect and Financial Connections) that overlap with Primer's enterprise offerings.

Direct peers

• Spreedly: Spreedly is a payment orchestration platform that lets merchants connect, route, and optimize transactions across multiple PSPs through a single integration — a near-direct functional analog to Primer's core orchestration layer.
• Gr4vy: Gr4vy is a cloud-based payment orchestration platform offering no-code workflow building, routing rules, and multi-PSP optimization — closely aligned with Primer's Workflows and orchestration capabilities.
• Cellpoint Digital: Cellpoint Digital provides payment orchestration and routing for merchants and travel platforms, with a comparable focus on multi-PSP optimization and high-volume transaction use cases like Primer's travel and retail customers.

Emerging players

• Rook (formerly Payment3): Rook is a payment orchestration platform targeting merchants who need unified routing and analytics across multiple PSPs and acquirers, overlapping Primer's core offering with a more emerging footprint.
• Solidgate: Solidgate provides payment orchestration and optimization tools for digital businesses, with comparable focus on intelligent routing, fallbacks, and PSP abstraction for enterprise merchants.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCblj8Ya4PGjRbKVXmVwKyeQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/primerapi
• Xx.com/primer_io

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Primer