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Stripe to acquire AI gateway OpenRouter for over $7 billion
Stripe Inc. has reportedly finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter Inc., an AI model gateway startup, for more than $7 billion. The deal represents a significant expansion for the payments processor into the artificial intelligence infrastructure sector.
OpenRouter, founded in 2023 by Alex Atallah and Louis Vichy, provides a single API that allows developers to access and switch between over 400 different AI models, including those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. The platform aims to prevent vendor lock-in by allowing users to route requests based on cost, speed, or capability without changing their underlying code.
The acquisition price of over $7 billion is approximately five times OpenRouter’s valuation of $1.3 billion reported in May 2026. OpenRouter currently serves roughly 8 million users and handles massive volumes of data, with weekly throughput reaching 25 trillion tokens in May.
While the deal has been widely reported by outlets such as Bloomberg, Stripe has not officially confirmed the acquisition, stating that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation. OpenRouter has also declined to comment.
Entities
Alex Atallah · Bloomberg · Louis Vichy · OpenRouter · OpenRouter Inc. · Stripe · Stripe Inc.
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [DISPUTED] Stripe has declined to officially confirm or deny the acquisition, stating they do not comment on rumors. www.prodiris.fr · fortune.com · cryptonomist.ch · dnyuz.com · siliconangle.com · +1 more
- [● 7 SOURCES] OpenRouter was valued at approximately $1.3 billion in May 2026. www.it-boltwise.de · fourweekmba.com · abmedia.io · fortune.com · www.ithome.com · +2 more
- [● 8 SOURCES] OpenRouter has approximately 8 million users. www.prodiris.fr · fourweekmba.com · fortune.com · abmedia.io · dnyuz.com · +3 more
- [DISPUTED] Stripe has finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter for more than $7 billion. www.prodiris.fr · www.it-boltwise.de · fourweekmba.com · fortune.com · cryptonomist.ch · +4 more
- [● 5 SOURCES] OpenRouter was founded in 2023 by Alex Atallah and Louis Vichy. www.prodiris.fr · fortune.com · abmedia.io · dnyuz.com · siliconangle.com
- [● 8 SOURCES] OpenRouter provides access to over 400 AI models. www.prodiris.fr · fourweekmba.com · fortune.com · abmedia.io · dnyuz.com · +3 more