Primer launches initiative to help start-ups optimise payments

Primer has introduced 'Primer for Growth', an offering designed to ease the payment challenges faced by start-ups and scale-ups, providing access to its payment infrastructure and associated tools.

The initiative comes as research conducted by Wakefield Research reveals that 94% of start-up executives do not believe their current payment systems will meet their needs within a year. The survey also found that almost a third (29%) of small businesses have experienced account suspension or termination, 22% have had funds withheld, and over a third (34%) have suffered payment downtime or service outages.

'Primer for Growth' is designed to remove barriers that start-ups encounter as they seek to grow, such as frozen funds, unplanned account suspensions, high fees, and failed payments. Primer is extending its enterprise-grade payment infrastructure, previously available to large businesses, to early-stage and scaling companies.

For qualifying businesses, Primer is offering one year of complimentary access to its Payments Intelligence suite, including Monitors and Observability tools. These tools enable real-time analytics and provide businesses with visibility into payment performance across different providers, allowing potential issues to be detected early and lost revenue to be recovered.

According to the findings, payments continue to be a significant challenge for small, digital-native businesses. The data shows that 49% of start-ups use only a single payment processor, with 32% of those expressing concern over the risks involved with such dependency. Inefficiencies related to payments, such as high processing costs, fraudulent activity, and failed transactions, can erode a startup's profits and limit its growth potential.

Gabriel Le Roux, Chief Executive Officer of Primer, commented on the move: "More startups are seeing that how they handle payments can help them grow, and we want to be the partner that helps them make the most of it. As of today, we're making it possible for startups to access the same powerful tools as global enterprises, from fraud prevention and smart routing to performance monitoring and optimisation. By extending our offer to more startups and scaleups, we're helping them build on the best payment stack from day one, with the flexibility, support, and expert guidance they need as they grow and scale."

As start-ups scale, they frequently encounter increased payment processing costs, more frequent outages, and limited flexibility, especially when tied to a single payment service provider. Seeking to solve these issues, Primer has developed features such as allowing the use of additional service providers, customisable checkout flows, automated payment routing, fraud detection, and other tools, without the need for heavy technical investment or new engineering resources.

Emilia Bayer, Strategy for Growth at Primer, highlighted the importance of robust payments infrastructure for new businesses: "Every ambitious startup needs a strong foundation, and that includes payments. Whether you're launching a newsletter or building the next breakout app, having the flexibility to choose and optimise your payment options can be a real growth catalyst. With Primer, early-stage teams get the tools to move faster, stay in control, and build the next generation of unicorns."

Primer's infrastructure is currently used by several established businesses, including Pelago by Singapore Airlines, the India-based online travel agency HappyEasyGo, and the crypto infrastructure provider Banxa. With the new initiative, these technologies and services are now made available for start-ups and firms seeking to expand.

The Payments Intelligence suite, offered complimentary for the first year to qualifying start-ups, includes real-time analytics, instant alerts, and a unified, no-code dashboard. The suite is designed to help early-stage companies keep control of their payment operations and address issues that could impact revenue.

The research supporting the new initiative surveyed 150 executives working at digital-native companies with up to 50 employees, across the UK, Australia, and the United States, in sectors such as travel, health and wellness, app development, gaming, digital services, and fintech. Roles included founders, chief executives, chief technology officers, chief operating officers, and product and engineering leads.