Stripe reportedly nearing $7B+ deal to acquire OpenRouter

Stripe has finalized a deal to acquire OpenRouter, according to a new report in Bloomberg. OpenRouter helps customers select different AI models to perform different tasks depending on their specific needs and budget. The startup announced in May that it had raised a $113 million Series B at a reported $1.3 billion valuation, with investors including Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, and Alphabet’s Capital G.

At the time of that raise, OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah described the company as the equivalent of Stripe for AI, since it gives customers a single access point for different AI systems and helps prevent lock-in to any one provider. The startup also claimed to have 8 million global users and to provide access to more than 400 models.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Stripe and OpenRouter were in acquisition talks. Bloomberg’s latest report says those discussions have now led to a deal price of more than $7 billion.

A Stripe spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Why it matters

If confirmed, the deal would fold one of the more prominent AI-model routing layers into a payments giant already building infrastructure for how businesses pay for and access AI services.