Stripe buys OpenRouter

Stripe said it will acquire OpenRouter in a move that looks to combine financial services and payments with model routing and token usage.

In a statement, Stripe said it has added tools such as Token Billing to its portfolio of economic infrastructure. The company is best known for its payment processing, authorization and fraud services.

The rough idea for Stripe is to wrap AI optimization into its broader portfolio of cost management tools. OpenRouter has more than 400 models from more than 80 providers and can leverage models based on price and performance.

Stripe said OpenRouter will "help companies manage both sides of profitability in the AI era: maximizing revenue and efficacy while minimizing costs." CEO Patrick Collison said, "Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI, and together with OpenRouter we’ll help businesses maximize profitability by routing their requests intelligently and spending their tokens efficiently."

In a blog post, OpenRouter said it will run independently and focus on routing decisions that are in the best interest of the user.

OpenRouter added that Stripe can help the company scale for when the post-AGI economy emerges. The company said:

“Stripe brings a large customer network, data on how internet businesses grow, and years of experience running trusted global infrastructure. There is also no one better at managing fraud and abuse, something we believe will only become more challenging for AI companies to address. We can now serve developers at a pace we couldn’t reach alone."

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but a Bloomberg report that was ahead of the news put the acquisition price at $7 billion.