Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, a New York-based AI infrastructure startup, for $7.5 billion. The deal combines Stripe's payments platform with OpenRouter's technology for managing AI model spending.
Stripe will pay $7.5 billion for OpenRouter, with $1.5 billion directed to the startup's founders and $6 billion to investors, according to a source cited by the New York Times.
OpenRouter provides tools that help businesses direct and optimize their spending across different AI models. The acquisition positions Stripe to expand beyond payments into AI infrastructure, a rapidly growing sector as enterprises increase their machine learning investments.
The deal reflects the growing importance of AI cost management. As companies deploy multiple AI models for different tasks, controlling expenses across vendors has become critical. OpenRouter's platform addresses this need by offering a unified interface for accessing various AI services.
Stripe, valued at $95 billion in its last private funding round, has been expanding its offerings beyond core payment processing. The OpenRouter acquisition represents a significant bet on AI becoming central to business operations.
The startup's valuation at $7.5 billion signals investor confidence in the AI infrastructure market. OpenRouter has positioned itself as a neutral layer between enterprises and AI model providers, avoiding dependence on any single vendor like OpenAI or Anthropic.
This acquisition comes as major tech companies compete to build platforms that simplify AI adoption and cost management. The combination of Stripe's merchant relationships and financial infrastructure with OpenRouter's AI routing capabilities could create a compelling offering for businesses managing complex AI deployments.
The deal's structure—allocating 20% to founders and 80% to investors—suggests OpenRouter had significant venture backing and early investor involvement.
Kuaishou Technology posted flat Q2 revenue of $5.2 billion but saw net income drop 36% year-over-year to $467 million—the steepest decline since 2021. The Chinese short-video platform's earnings miss came amid higher creator payouts, though its Kling AI division surged 200%.
The Senate GOP campaign arm has privately warned major AI companies that growing opposition to U.S. data centers threatens Republican prospects in Ohio's crucial Senate race.
China has criticized the European Union's investigation into JD.com's €2.2 billion acquisition of German electronics retailer Ceconomy, labeling the EU's Foreign Subsidies Regulation as improper overreach.
Marvell Technology and Google have expanded their chip development partnership, with Marvell granting Google a warrant to purchase up to 58 million shares at $206.58 each. The warrant represents a potential $12.2 billion investment and deepens the companies' collaboration on custom semiconductor development.