Stripe reportedly reaches deal to acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for over $7B
Bloomberg reports that payments company Stripe has finalized a deal to acquire AI model gateway startup OpenRouter at a price exceeding $7 billion. The talks follow earlier reporting that the two companies were negotiating an acquisition.
Payments giant Stripe has reportedly finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter, an artificial intelligence startup, according to a new Bloomberg report. The deal is said to value OpenRouter at more than $7 billion.
OpenRouter operates a platform that lets customers select among different AI models to handle specific tasks based on their needs and budget. In May, the company announced it had raised a $113 million Series B funding round at a reported valuation of $1.3 billion. Its investor base includes major venture firms Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Menlo Ventures, as well as CapitalG, the growth investment arm of Google parent company Alphabet.
At the time of that funding announcement, OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah described the company as effectively "the Stripe for AI," since it gives customers a single access point to multiple AI systems while helping them avoid being locked into any one provider. The startup also said it had roughly 8 million users globally and offered access to more than 400 different AI models.
Talks confirmed last month
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Stripe and OpenRouter were already engaged in acquisition talks. Bloomberg's new report indicates those discussions have now culminated in an agreed deal price exceeding $7 billion.
A Stripe spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation, meaning the reported deal has not been officially confirmed.
