Stripe in talks to acquire AI model router OpenRouter for near 10 billion dollars
Stripe is in talks to acquire OpenRouter, the AI model-routing platform, in a deal that could value it near $10 billion, per Axios. OpenRouter was valued at about $1.3 billion after a funding round in May. It already uses Stripe's payment infrastructure to process transactions.
Stripe is in talks to acquire OpenRouter, the AI model-routing platform that lets developers and businesses access, compare and switch between AI models from providers including proprietary and open-source systems, in a deal that could value the startup near $10 billion, according to Axios and other reports. That would represent a sharp jump from OpenRouter's roughly $1.3 billion valuation following a funding round in May. OpenRouter, founded in 2023, already has a commercial relationship with Stripe, using the company's payment infrastructure to process customer transactions. The discussions remain ongoing and could still change or fall apart before any agreement is reached. A completed deal would rank among Stripe's biggest moves beyond its core payments business and deepen its push into AI infrastructure. A payments company, rather than a cloud provider or AI lab, pursuing the leading AI model marketplace shows how model routing has become infrastructure that companies outside the AI industry now consider strategically essential. Per Axios.