Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, an AI startup that helps companies move between different AI models, in a deal valued at more than $7bn, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The reported agreement comes only months after OpenRouter raised funding at a valuation said to be $1.3bn.
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According to Bloomberg, the final purchase price could still change.
A Stripe spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company does not comment on rumours or speculation. OpenRouter also declined to comment.
Founded in 2023, OpenRouter provides access to hundreds of AI models. Its platform is designed to help developers choose the most efficient and cost-effective option for a given task.
The company is based in New York and has drawn backing from major Silicon Valley investors, including CapitalG, one of Alphabet’s venture arms, as well as Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures.
It has raised more than $150m to date.
The deal points to rising demand from businesses seeking ways to manage AI costs more closely.
In May, OpenRouter said it served eight million developers across more than 400 AI models.
The company said much of its growth has come from developers testing different models while building agentic features into software.
That work often requires infrastructure that can operate across multiple providers and data sources.
OpenRouter also offers tools that help companies keep backup options in place if a model fails.
It also provides insight into which models are gaining the most traction across the wider technology sector.
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that Stripe was in talks to buy OpenRouter for about $10bn.
OpenRouter chief executive Alex Atallah previously co-founded OpenSea, a non-fungible token marketplace that raised more than $400m before usage fell sharply.
Atallah stepped down from OpenSea in July 2022 and started OpenRouter less than a year later.
Earlier this year, Atallah described OpenRouter as the AI equivalent of Stripe.
