How to build a $425m business with no code and boundaries

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Hi readers,

I don’t know if it was the pandemic or perhaps firms like Binance that normalized it, but where a firm is headquartered or based doesn’t seem relevant anymore (though one might say it still very much matters in the case of crypto).

For journalists, this is a boilerplate question we don’t think twice about asking and a characterization we often make. But recent conversations with several fintech firms – and the increasingly global nature of companies – are making me rethink this.

Primer, a no-code payments and commerce platform, is one of those companies. In a recent interview with its co-founder Gabriel Le Roux, I learned that the firm is fully remote. While Le Roux himself is based in London, the firm employs some 120 employees across 35 countries.

It makes sense given the firm’s business model. Primer helps its clients – merchants looking to expand overseas or integrate their workflows – to add and enable over 100 payment, communication, fraud detection, and tax apps with just a few clicks.

Because Primer doesn’t handle customer funds, it doesn’t need to hold payment licenses like a typical payments firm would need to in each country – I think that’s pretty genius.

I almost forgot to mention: Primer is valued at US$425 million and its backers include Iconiq, the family office managing wealth for the likes of Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg.

If this has piqued your interest about the company, you can read more about what Primer has in store for Asia Pacific here.

— Melissa Goh, journalist at Tech in Asia

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