Primer, the UK-headquartered payment infrastructure fintech, has raised a USD 100 million Series C round led by Sofina, the company announced on Wednesday. The oversubscribed round was announced with datelines in New York and Singapore and drew participation from a group of existing investors alongside the new lead.
Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ Growth, Tencent, Speedinvest and Peak XV Partners all took part in the round, providing continued backing to a company that has become one of the more prominent European exponents of the payments orchestration model.
AI INVESTMENT AND PRIMER COMPANION
Primer said the proceeds would be used to accelerate its investment in artificial intelligence, in particular around a product it calls Primer Companion, and to expand its presence in the United States. The company positions the AI push as a way to help merchants automate the design and optimisation of their payment flows.
Primer's core business is a platform that lets merchants connect to and orchestrate a large number of payment service providers, processors and value-added services through a single integration. The addition of AI-driven tooling is intended to make it easier for merchants to configure and monitor those flows without hand-coding rules for each combination.
The company described the round as oversubscribed, with existing investors continuing to back the business alongside Sofina's lead cheque. Sofina, the Belgian listed investment firm, has been an active backer of internet and payments companies globally and takes the largest role in this financing.
US HIRING PLAN AND MARKET PUSH
Alongside the fundraising, Primer said it planned to hire up to 50 roles in the United States as it built out its commercial and engineering teams there. The company already serves merchants in North America through its platform, but the fresh capital is intended to allow it to build a more substantial local presence and go-to-market organisation.
The US payments market has been a target for European orchestration and infrastructure players seeking to diversify away from home markets, where growth in card-present volumes has slowed. Primer joins peers in prioritising the region for future expansion, drawn by the size of the merchant base and the complexity of the domestic payments landscape. The plan to add up to 50 US roles points to a mix of engineering, sales, partnerships and support hires needed to serve larger enterprise merchants in the region.
Primer is co-headquartered in the United Kingdom and has staff distributed across multiple markets, with the new round expected to shift the balance of its investment further toward the United States. The company did not disclose a post-money valuation for the round.
The Series C is one of the larger fintech raises out of Europe so far in 2026 and comes as investors have narrowed their focus to companies combining recurring revenue in payments with a clear AI product story. Primer said further product announcements around Primer Companion would follow in the coming months. The combination of a Belgian lead investor in Sofina and continued backing from a diverse group of existing shareholders spanning Europe, the United States and Asia gives the company an unusually international shareholder register for a UK-based payments infrastructure business.