- Paul Anthony, the cofounder of Iconiq-backed fintech Primer, is stepping down as co-CEO.
- The startup, founded in 2020, has raised $73 million from investors including Accel.
- The company’s cofounder Gabriel Le Roux will assume the role of sole CEO.
The cofounder of Primer, a three-year-old fintech backed by the likes of Iconiq Capital and Accel, is leaving his role as co-CEO.
Paul Anthony, who set up Primer alongside Gabriel Le Roux, will instead chair the company’s board, focusing on overarching strategy rather than the day-to-day running of the business, according to a leaked memo seen by Insider. Le Roux will assume the role of sole CEO, the message circulated to staff stated.
Primer, which has raised $73 million from investors to date, is a payments processing startup that offers low-code payments infrastructure. It also enables retailers to integrate payment options like Apple Pay and Klarna into their checkouts.
Both Anthony and Le Roux previously worked for PayPal-owned payment processor Braintree and the pair have made a number of angel investments while also acting as a limited partner in early-stage investors like Cocoa.
Le Roux confirmed the organizational restructure and said it was a “reflection of the state of the business today.”
“We are evolving as a company by continuing to innovate and growing to new markets,” he said. “We’ve always had good conversations and our co-CEO model has always been very organic.”
The payments infrastructure startup was last valued at $425 million and laid off a third of its staff late last year. Le Roux insisted that there was no major disagreement to prompt this decision.
In a message to staff Anthony said the move was a “real big change on my side.”
“I have decided to step into the role of chairman, where I’ll be providing strategic direction to the business, working closely with Gabs and leading the board, but stepping aside from day to day operational activities,” he said.
“Gabs is stepping into the role of sole CEO, where he’ll better align product and commercial teams to further strengthen our position (we had a whole ceremony and everything – let’s just say I shouldn’t be trusted with a knighting sword).”
Anthony said the company was “consistently crushing” its numbers and that it was well placed to raise a Series C round in the new year after recording strong growth in its annual recurring revenue.
When contacted by Insider, Anthony indicated that he was set to launch a new venture in the music tech space and was in conversations with investors.
Read the full article here