PiggyGPT

Private companiesCovered

Primer

San Francisco, California, United States · Founded 2015

Primer makes AI software that searches, extracts and summarizes large volumes of unstructured text for U.S. defense, intelligence and civilian agencies. Its products are Primer Delta, an analysis platform, Primer Command, which monitors news and social media, and the Primer API. Its founder, Sean Gourley, stepped down as chief executive in April 2023, and Sean Moriarty has led it since.

Profile

What it builds and who buys it

  • ·Primer Delta is a secure AI platform that analysts in the Intelligence Community, Defense and civilian agencies use to analyze large volumes of unstructured data.Primer (company site)
  • ·Primer Command monitors global news and social media to track narratives and evolving topics and to detect emerging threats.Primer (company site)
  • ·The Primer API embeds search, extraction, claim-level verification and source-grounded summaries in customers’ own mission applications.Primer (company site)
  • ·The company says its software runs in customer-hosted, air-gapped, DDIL and cloud environments, and can feed command-and-control systems through APIs.Primer (company site)
  • ·Since 2020 Primer has worked with Air Force and Army officials on machine learning for mission planning, predictive logistics and intelligence and decision cycles. It also sells to Fortune 100 companies.Primer (company release), Jun 14, 2023
  • ·In October 2020 the Air Force and Special Operations Command awarded Primer a multi-million dollar Phase II SBIR contract to build a machine learning platform that identifies and assesses suspected disinformation.Primer (company release via PR Newswire), Oct 1, 2020
  • ·In 2022 WIRED reported that Primer adapted its transcription and translation tools to capture, transcribe, translate and analyze intercepted Russian military radio traffic from Ukraine.WIRED, Apr 4, 2022
  • ·In June 2021 Primer announced a partnership to run within the Palantir platform and an integration with Microsoft Azure, including Azure Government Secret and Top Secret.Primer (company release via PR Newswire), Jun 22, 2021
  • ·In September 2023 Primer Delta gained FedRAMP designation and Impact Level 5 authorization through Palantir’s FedStart program.Primer (company release), Sep 11, 2023
  • ·In January 2024 Primer Delta Lite was listed in AWS Marketplace for the U.S. Intelligence Community.Primer (company release), Jan 23, 2024
  • ·In February 2025 the Primer platform became available in AWS Marketplace in the AWS Secret Region.Primer (company release), Feb 6, 2025
  • ·In October 2024 Primer announced a platform update it described as reaching near-zero hallucination rates. An editor’s note added later says the company moved away from citing specific hallucination-reduction percentages.Primer (company release), Oct 14, 2024
  • ·In August 2025 Primer partnered with Reality Defender to pair its open-source intelligence platform with Reality Defender’s synthetic-media detection.Primer (company release), Aug 7, 2025
  • ·In May 2026 Primer described a counter-UAS offering that uses intelligence to identify drone threats before launch.Primer, May 6, 2026
  • ·In October 2017 it had 36 employees and initial customers at In-Q-Tel, Walmart and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, TechCrunch reported.TechCrunch, Oct 24, 2017
  • ·Its leadership page lists Sean Moriarty as chief executive, Clay Hutmacher as president and Edgar Ejercito as chief financial officer. Hutmacher, a retired Army major general, joined the executive team in 2026 after serving on the board since 2023.Primer
  • ·Its board is Sean Moriarty, Lee Fixel of Addition, Peter Tague of USIT and Clay Hutmacher.Primer
  • ·Moriarty was previously chief executive of Leaf Group and of Ticketmaster.Primer
  • ·In June 2024 Primer hired Erin Hawley, formerly chief executive of Instabase Gov, as chief revenue officer and Joe Chang, formerly chief technology officer of Uber Freight, as chief technology officer.Primer (company release), Jun 27, 2024
  • ·Clay Hutmacher joined the board in October 2023, when he was president and chief executive of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.Primer (company release), Oct 4, 2023
  • ·The company lists offices in San Francisco, Pasadena and Washington, D.C.Primer

Founders and leadership

  • Sean GourleyFounder; chief executive until April 2023

    A New Zealander and Rhodes Scholar who took a physics PhD at Oxford in 2006, applying AI to the dynamics of insurgencies. Primer is his second company, after Quid, which was acquired.Physics Today, Oct 11, 2022

Prospects, after the June 2023 Series D

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

  • ·The customers on file are the U.S. Air Force, the Army and Special Operations Command, and the intelligence community through AWS marketplaces. No contract value is on file beyond an SBIR award described as multi-million dollar.Primer (company release), Jun 14, 2023
  • ·The last announced round is a $69 million first close of a Series D in June 2023. No round on file states a valuation, and the company has published no revenue figure.Primer (company release), Jun 14, 2023
  • ·The founder left the chief executive role in 2023. The executive team is now led by outside hires, and a former special-operations commander became president in 2026.Primer
  • ·For the acquisition read, Palantir is a cited partner: Primer runs within its platform, and its FedRAMP and Impact Level 5 authorizations run through Palantir’s FedStart. Addition led both of the last two rounds. No talks or approach are on file. The posture is watch.Primer (company release), Sep 11, 2023

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Funding

Last valuation

No citable valuation

Last round or tender

$69Mraised

Series DPrimer (company release), Jun 14, 2023

A first close, led by Addition with the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), founded by Thomas Tull. No valuation was stated, and no later close has been announced. Crunchbase News put total funding at $237 million after it, per Crunchbase data.

Latest revenue figure

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Valuation to revenue

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Post-money valuation by round

Fewer than two dated figures on file to plot; the table carries what there is.

DateRoundRaisedPost-money
Jun 14, 2023Series DA first close, led by Addition with the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), founded by Thomas Tull. No valuation was stated, and no later close has been announced. Crunchbase News put total funding at $237 million after it, per Crunchbase data.$69M—
Jun 22, 2021Series CLed by Lee Fixel’s Addition, with Steadfast, Sands Capital and Hank Crumpton, a former U.S. Coordinator for Counterterrorism, as new investors and Lux Capital, DCVC and Amplify Partners returning. No valuation was stated. Global Venturing reported that Primer had previously raised $40 million in a 2018 Series B led by Lux Capital, with Bloomberg Beta and Mubadala Ventures among the investors.$110M—
Oct 24, 2017Seed and Series ATechCrunch reported $14.7 million in total across the seed and Series A, led by Data Collective (DCVC), with Lux Capital, Amplify Partners and In-Q-Tel also providing capital. In-Q-Tel announced its strategic investment agreement the same day. No source gives each round’s own size or day; the day recorded is the announcement.$15M—

Primary capital across the rounds on file: $194M

Revenue

No citable revenue figure on file.

Secondary venues

  • Clarity (formerly Hiive)public page seen Oct 15, 2026

    Clarity Price $34.08, as of Oct 15, 2026

    Clarity calls the figure a model-derived indicative estimate calculated daily and shows it up 21.71% all time; the page dates it no further than a "last updated" line reading August 28, 2026, so the day recorded is the day seen. Its funding table lists the Series D at $69 million with no per-share price. Last match, bids and asks are behind sign-up.

  • Nasdaq Private Marketpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    Listed as Primer.ai. The price per share and valuation are behind sign-up, and the page shows no figure in its text or title.

  • Caplightpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    No public MarketPrice. The page shows Caplight’s own total-funding and revenue estimates, an aggregator’s figures.

A venue is listed when its public page named the company on the date shown. A price is the figure that page showed, under the venue’s own name for it and dated as the venue dated it; it is a level the venue publishes, not a trade. Nothing is recorded from behind a login.

Reads

Acquisition: Watch

A cited tie to a plausible buyer: a strategic partner, an investor stake, a tender offer, a stated appetite. Nothing reported.

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

Signals

  • Oct 24, 2017Primer announced a strategic investment agreement with In-Q-Tel, the nonprofit strategic investor for U.S. government agencies.In-Q-Tel, Oct 24, 2017
  • Jun 22, 2021Primer closed a $110 million Series C led by Addition and announced a partnership with Palantir to make Primer available within the Palantir platform, alongside an integration with Microsoft Azure.Primer (company release via PR Newswire), Jun 22, 2021
  • Apr 19, 2023Founder Sean Gourley stepped down as chief executive, and Sean Moriarty was appointed in his place.Primer, Apr 19, 2023
  • Jun 14, 2023Primer announced a $69 million first close of its Series D, led by Addition with the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund.Primer (company release), Jun 14, 2023
  • Sep 11, 2023Primer said Primer Delta would carry FedRAMP designation and Impact Level 5 authorization through Palantir’s FedStart program, which runs partner products inside Palantir’s accredited environment.Primer (company release), Sep 11, 2023
  • Jun 10, 2025Primer joined the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, a co-sell program that connects partners with the AWS sales organization.Primer (company release), Jun 10, 2025
  • Aug 7, 2025Primer and Reality Defender, a deepfake-detection company, announced a strategic partnership integrating their platforms by API.Primer (company release), Aug 7, 2025

Named counterparties

  • PalantirPrimer announced a partnership with Palantir in 2021 to make its AI available within the Palantir platform, and its FedRAMP and Impact Level 5 authorizations run through Palantir’s FedStart program.Primer (company release), Sep 11, 2023

Counterparties are named for a cited reason: a partnership, an investment, or a stated appetite. Naming is not a forecast.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Sources

Researched Oct 15, 2026