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Stripe has finalized an agreement to acquire AI startup OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. OpenRouter, founded in 2023, provides developers with access to hundreds of AI models and serves 8 million users. The deal comes months after the company raised funding at a $1.3 billion valuation. The acquisition positions Stripe to expand its presence in the AI sector. OpenRouter has raised over $150 million from investors including CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz, and Menlo Ventures. The final price could still change. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported talks at around $10 billion. OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah previously co-founded NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Key Elements
Stripe has finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter, a startup that helps companies switch between artificial intelligence models, for more than $7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal, which comes just months after OpenRouter raised money at a reported $1.3 billion valuation, underscores the growing demand from businesses to find cost-efficient AI solutions. It also positions Stripe, best known as a payments processing firm, to gain a stronger foothold in the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence sector.
The final acquisition price could still change, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public. A Stripe spokesperson said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation, while OpenRouter declined to comment.
Founded in 2023, OpenRouter provides access to hundreds of AI models, aiming to match developers with the most efficient and affordable options for any given task. The New York-based company has drawn backing from some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors, including CapitalG, one of Alphabet’s venture arms, along with Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures. OpenRouter has raised more than $150 million in capital to date.
The startup’s rapid rise coincides with intensifying scrutiny of AI costs across the industry. While companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are still widely viewed as offering the most capable AI models, a growing list of Chinese firms provides cheaper alternatives that many developers consider good enough for a broad range of tasks.
In May, OpenRouter said it serves 8 million developers who rely on its platform to access more than 400 different AI models. Much of the startup’s growth has come from developers experimenting with different models as they build agentic capabilities into their software, a process that requires infrastructure capable of working across multiple providers and data sources.
OpenRouter also offers services that help companies access backup models if their primary choice fails, as well as insights into which options are gaining traction across the broader tech ecosystem.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Stripe was in talks to buy OpenRouter for about $10 billion, suggesting the final agreed price came in below that initial figure.
OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah previously co-founded OpenSea, the nonfungible token marketplace that raised more than $400 million but saw usage decline sharply. Atallah stepped down from OpenSea in July 2022 and launched OpenRouter less than a year later. Earlier this year, he described OpenRouter as the AI equivalent of Stripe, citing its role as a single access point for different systems that prevents vendor lock-in.
The acquisition would mark one of Stripe’s largest deals to date and signals the company’s ambition to expand well beyond its core payments business into the infrastructure layer of the AI economy.
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