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Stripe agrees to acquire OpenRouter for more than $7 billion in AI gateway bet

8/17/2026

Gateway infrastructure for AI model selection is attracting acquisition premiums that dwarf the underlying funding rounds.

Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, Bloomberg reported, more than five times the $1.3 billion valuation the startup held after a Series B that closed in May.

Stripe, via a spokesperson, told TechCrunch it does not comment on rumors or speculation.

OpenRouter routes requests across more than 400 AI models, letting customers select whichever model fits their task and budget rather than committing to one provider.

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