Stripe has reportedly finalized an agreement to acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, according to Bloomberg.
The reported deal would mark a major expansion of Stripe’s presence in AI infrastructure and comes only a few months after OpenRouter raised funding at a valuation of about $1.3 billion.
OpenRouter provides developers and businesses with a single interface to access and switch between hundreds of AI models. Instead of building separate integrations for different AI providers, customers can use OpenRouter to choose models based on factors such as performance, availability and cost. The company has said it has millions of users and access to more than 400 models.
The reported acquisition comes just months after OpenRouter raised $113 million in a Series B funding round in May, at a reported valuation of $1.3 billion. Its investors include Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures and Alphabet’s CapitalG. The reported purchase price of more than $7 billion would therefore represent a dramatic increase over the startup’s most recent private valuation.
OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah previously compared the company to Stripe for AI because it gives developers a common access point to multiple AI systems while reducing dependence on any single model provider. That positioning has become increasingly important as businesses use multiple AI models rather than relying on a single provider.
The latest report follows earlier reports that Stripe and OpenRouter were in acquisition discussions. Those talks were first reported publicly in July, when the potential transaction was said to be worth close to $10 billion. At the time, the deal was still under discussion and could have fallen apart.
Stripe already has a significant relationship with OpenRouter. In January 2026, Stripe announced that OpenRouter was using its invoicing, tax, payments and fraud-prevention services as it expanded globally. Stripe said OpenRouter was then providing more than 5 million developers with access to hundreds of AI models through a single interface.
The reported acquisition would take that relationship much further, potentially giving Stripe control over an important layer between AI applications and the models they use. It could also complement Stripe’s existing push into AI-related infrastructure and usage-based billing.
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However, the acquisition has not been formally announced by Stripe or OpenRouter. A Stripe spokesperson has said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation, while Bloomberg’s latest report relies on people familiar with the matter. The final value of the transaction could also change.
