Stripe Reportedly Acquires OpenRouter for Over $7 Billion, Bringing Model Routing to the Payments Layer

Stripe has agreed to acquire AI model routing startup OpenRouter in a deal reportedly valued north of $7 billion, placing the company that meters model traffic directly alongside the company that bills for it.

Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, according to @vkdev456. If the number holds, it is one of the largest AI infrastructure acquisitions to date — and unusually, it is not a model lab or a chip play. It is the plumbing that decides which model handles a given request.

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