Payments firm also weighs next move on PayPal bid after $53B offer
Stripe is in talks to acquire OpenRouter, an AI startup that operates a marketplace allowing developers to access and compare hundreds of artificial intelligence models, according to people familiar with the matter. A transaction could be announced soon, though the talks could still fall apart or another suitor could emerge, the people said.
The exact price being discussed could not be learned, but some of the people said the business could fetch around $10 billion in a sale. That would represent a sharp increase from OpenRouter’s most recent valuation of $1.3 billion in May, according to PitchBook. A number of other big tech companies had also been eyeing potential deals for OpenRouter, the people added.
OpenRouter, founded in 2023, sells software that allows customers to access AI models built by OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as open-weight alternatives that are free to download and run. The company lists hundreds of large language models on its platform, allowing developers and businesses to access, compare and switch between them.
Many technology companies are looking to use a wide range of AI models as a way to control spending and diversify away from OpenAI and Anthropic, people familiar with the matter said. OpenRouter and Stripe already have an existing partnership, with OpenRouter using Stripe to accept payments from its customers.
Stripe is primarily a payments processor that helps companies across the internet accept payments, but it has recently tried to expand into areas such as infrastructure for AI and stablecoin payments. Its valuation hit $159 billion earlier this year. OpenRouter’s backers include CapitalG, the growth-venture fund of Google parent Alphabet.
Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International recently made an unsolicited offer to acquire PayPal for around $53 billion, as MSI previously reported. For PayPal, however, that takeover price was seen as too low, according to people familiar with the matter. Stripe and Advent are still weighing their next move with respect to PayPal, some of the people said.