Bloomberg reports that Stripe has finalized a deal to acquire OpenRouter.
What OpenRouter does
OpenRouter provides a platform that lets customers select different AI models for different tasks based on their needs and budget. In May the company announced a $113 million Series B round, at a reported $1.3 billion valuation. Investors in that round included Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, and Alphabet’s Capital G.
OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah described the company as the equivalent of “Stripe for AI,” arguing it offers customers a single access point to multiple systems and helps avoid vendor lock-in. At the time the startup said it had 8 million global users and provided access to more than 400 models.
The talks and reported price
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Stripe and OpenRouter were in acquisition talks. Bloomberg now says those discussions have resulted in a deal price of more than $7 billion.
Stripe’s response
A Stripe spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation.
Why it matters
If the Bloomberg report is accurate, the acquisition would be a significant move by a major infrastructure provider into tools that aggregate and route access to multiple AI models. OpenRouter’s ability to offer broad model access and reduce lock-in could be strategically valuable for a payments and infrastructure company with a large developer and enterprise customer base.
