OpenAI completes acqui-hire of finance startup Hiro

OpenAI has acquired Hiro, an artificial-intelligence personal finance startup founded in 2024, in a transaction characterized as an acqui-hire—an acquisition completed primarily to recruit the target company’s talent. Founder Ethan Bloch announced the acquisition on Monday, and OpenAI confirmed the transaction to TechCrunch. Under the terms of the agreement, Hiro will shut down its operations on April 20 and delete all data from its servers on May 13. Bloch announced that Hiro’s employees are joining OpenAI, though he declined to offer further comment. While Bloch did not specify the exact headcount, LinkedIn records show about 10 employees associated with the startup. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and Hiro had not previously disclosed its total funding. The startup was backed by venture capital firms Ribbit, General Catalyst, and Restive.

The transaction marks the latest exit for Bloch, a serial entrepreneur who began his career in technology at age 13. Bloch told publication Business Insider that Hiro represents the 15th project he has launched, following 13 initial projects that failed. With the sale of Hiro, Bloch has successfully exited multiple technology startups over the course of his career. His previous successful ventures include:

• Digit: An online-only bank (neobank) designed to help users automatically save money. Digit was sold to financial services company Oportun in 2021. While Digit stated the sale price was more than $200 million, Bloch later stated the final figure was about $230 million.
• Flowtown: A social media software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool launched in 2009. Flowtown was sold for $4.5 million.

The acquisition suggests OpenAI is looking to deepen its financial planning capabilities. OpenAI currently markets its ChatGPT platform to business finance teams, and adding Hiro’s specialized talent could support these efforts. Additionally, the move may position OpenAI to better compete with OpenClaw, which is a popular automated agent used for robo stock trading. Notably, Bloch previously built an automated trading agent named RoboBuffett using the OpenClaw platform, highlighting his existing familiarity with financial automation tools.

Why it matters

OpenAI’s acquisition of Hiro suggests the company is prioritizing specialized talent to expand its capabilities in business finance and financial planning tools.