Primer
San Francisco NLP/AI company (Primer AI) building secure text-analysis platforms for intelligence, defense, and federal agencies to process large volumes of unstructured data.
Founded in 2015 by physicist Sean Gourley (previously co-founder/CTO of Quid), Primer builds AI platforms — Primer Enterprise, Primer Command, and a developer API — that turn large volumes of unstructured text and open-source data into structured, traceable intelligence. Its stated customer base is the Intelligence Community, Defense, and civilian federal agencies, with named use cases including counter-UAS threat intelligence, information-environment/narrative monitoring, and accelerated intelligence analysis; the platform is built for deployment in secure enclaves, tactical edge systems, and air-gapped networks, with NIST, SOC2, DFARS, and ISO 27001 compliance. Its Federal Advisory Board includes former senior DIA, ODNI, SOCOM, CIA, and CYBERCOM officials. Sean Moriarty (ex-CEO of Ticketmaster and Leaf Group) succeeded Gourley as CEO. Primer raised a $110M Series C in June 2021, led by Lee Fixel's Addition, with new investors including Crumpton Ventures (founded by former CIA officer and counterterrorism coordinator Henry A. Crumpton), J2 Ventures, Steadfast, and Sands Capital, alongside existing investors Lux Capital, DCVC, Amplify Partners, Section 32, Bloomberg Beta, and Avalon Ventures.
Overview
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Founded
- 2015
- Employees
- Total funding
- $237M (6 rounds, incl. $110M Series C, June 2021)
- Stage
- Series C
- Status
- active
- Domains
- primer.ai
- Website
- www.primer.ai
Cap table0
Approximate ownership by holder. Indexed holders link to their records.
Raised per round
Percentages marked ~ are not disclosed. Some are a generic VC-pattern model (founders/team weighted heaviest, option pool lightest, other holders evenly) sized to whatever's left undisclosed — a standard industry shape, not this company's actual cap table.
| Holder | Instrument | Ownership |
|---|---|---|
U.S. Innovative Technology FundNew | Preferred (Series D) | ~50.0% |
AdditionReinvested | Preferred (Series D) | ~50.0% |
Contracts2
- ContractU.S. Air Force JADC2 IDIQMultiple-award IDIQ contract with a $950M ceiling shared across a 27+ company pool (including Primer) for maturation, demonstration, and proliferation of Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capability.
- ContractSocial Media Event MonitoringU.S. Special Operations Command contract for social media event monitoring using Primer's AI platform.
Programs0
No linked records yet.
Frequently asked
- What does Primer do?
- Founded in 2015 by physicist Sean Gourley (previously co-founder/CTO of Quid), Primer builds AI platforms — Primer Enterprise, Primer Command, and a developer API — that turn large volumes of unstructured text and open-source data into structured, traceable intelligence. Its stated customer base is the Intelligence Community, Defense, and civilian federal agencies, with named use cases including counter-UAS threat intelligence, information-environment/narrative monitoring, and accelerated intelligence analysis; the platform is built for deployment in secure enclaves, tactical edge systems, and air-gapped networks, with NIST, SOC2, DFARS, and ISO 27001 compliance. Its Federal Advisory Board includes former senior DIA, ODNI, SOCOM, CIA, and CYBERCOM officials. Sean Moriarty (ex-CEO of Ticketmaster and Leaf Group) succeeded Gourley as CEO. Primer raised a $110M Series C in June 2021, led by Lee Fixel's Addition, with new investors including Crumpton Ventures (founded by former CIA officer and counterterrorism coordinator Henry A. Crumpton), J2 Ventures, Steadfast, and Sands Capital, alongside existing investors Lux Capital, DCVC, Amplify Partners, Section 32, Bloomberg Beta, and Avalon Ventures.
- Where is Primer headquartered?
- Primer is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA and was founded in 2015.
- How much funding has Primer raised?
- Primer has raised $237M (6 rounds, incl. $110M Series C, June 2021) in disclosed funding.
- What does Primer specialize in?
- Primer works across primer.ai.
- Does Primer hold government contracts?
- Defense Tech Atlas links Primer to 2 government contracts.
Sources & citations7
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
Primer's platform serves the Intelligence Community, Defense, and Civilian federal agencies, with named use cases including counter-UAS threat intelligence and information-environment monitoring, deployable in secure enclaves, tactical edge systems, and air-gapped networks; compliant with NIST, SOC2, DFARS, ISO 27001.
Primer: Primer — AI for Defense & IntelligenceVerified2026-08-11 - 2
Primer raised a $110M Series C led by Lee Fixel's Addition (June 22, 2021), with new investors including Steadfast, Sands Capital, and Hank Crumpton (Crumpton Ventures), alongside existing investors Lux Capital, DCVC, Amplify Partners, and others.
PR Newswire: Primer Raises $110M Series CVerified2021-06-22 - 3
Primer was founded in 2015 by Sean Gourley, who previously co-founded and was CTO of Quid; Gourley was Primer's CEO from 2015 to 2023.
Founders Network: How Sean Gourley, Primer Founder and CEO, Pivoted from 'Mathematics of War' to Two Groundbreaking Tech StartupsReported2026-08-11 - 4
Sean Moriarty, former CEO of Ticketmaster and Leaf Group, was introduced as Primer's new CEO.
Primer: Introducing our New CEO: Sean MoriartyVerified2026-08-11 - 5
Primer's Series B ($40M, Nov 2018, led by Lux Capital with Section 32, Mubadala Ventures, DCVC, Amplify Partners, Avalon Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Crosslink, and In-Q-Tel) and Series D ($69M, June 2023, led by Addition with the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund) round out its funding history alongside the already-cited Series C.
Lux Capital: Leading Primer's $40M Series BVerified2018-11-21 - 6
Primer raised a $69M Series D led by Addition, with the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (Thomas Tull) participating.
VentureBeat: Military contractor Primer announces $69M round to build AI for those who support and defend our democracyVerified2023-06-14 - 7
Primer's Delta and Command products were assessed 'Awardable' for Department of Defense work in the CDAO's Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, announced November 7, 2023.
Primer: Primer Assessed 'Awardable' for Department of Defense Work in the CDAO's Tradewinds Solutions MarketplaceVerified2023-11-07