Payments firm Stripe to buy marketplace OpenRouter in AI push
While the companies did not disclose the value of the deal, a source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential information, told Reuters it was worth slightly more than $8 billion.
Payments firm Stripe has agreed to buy OpenRouter, a startup that helps businesses route and optimize AI token usage. The deal value has been reported differently by various sources, with some estimating it at $7.5 billion, according to TechCrunch and SiliconANGLE, while others put it at slightly more than $8 billion, according to Economic Times Tech and Axios.
OpenRouter's platform allows developers to send queries to dozens of AI models through a single interface, making it a popular testing ground for new systems. The company's founders, Alex Atallah and Louis Vichy, founded it in 2023 and it has about 90 employees. Its customers include Nvidia Corp., Zoom Communications Inc. and Lovable Labs Inc.
Stripe's CEO, Patrick Collison, said that "tokens are the central currency for companies building with AI, and it's clear that the real-world economic potential will depend on making good use of scarce compute resources." The deal is expected to close within weeks, with OpenRouter's platform handling over 10 trillion tokens daily and used by more than 10 million developers and companies.
Brief written by urgent.news from Economic Times Tech, TechCrunch, SiliconANGLE, CNA - Business, Channel News Asia — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- OpenRouter is joining Stripe openrouter.ai
- Stripe agrees to buy New York-based OpenRouter; a source says Stripe is paying $7.5B, with $1.5B going to the startup's founders and $6B to investors (Erin Griffith/New York Times) nytimes.com
- Payments firm Stripe to buy marketplace OpenRouter in AI push channelnewsasia.com
