Stripe, a major payments company, will acquire OpenRouter for approximately $7.5 billion, bringing the total to around ¥1.1925 trillion. An investor letter disclosed alongside the deal states that the “singularity” is being positioned as a premise for management.
Stripe confirmed the acquisition of OpenRouter on the same day. The purchase price was reported to be approximately $7.5 billion, while the founders and others were reportedly set to receive approximately $1.5 billion (about ¥238.5 billion). The acquisition is proceeding while OpenRouter remains private, with the total value said to be equivalent to approximately ¥1.1925 trillion. OpenRouter is a routing service that allows users to select among AI models through a single API, and is seen as a key component of Stripe’s efforts to strengthen its AI infrastructure.
First-half revenue increased 41% year on year, while free cash flow rose 43%. Stripe said that the proportion of AI and cryptocurrency companies on its platform has more than doubled, and explained that companies including OpenAI and Anthropic are building services on the platform.
The letter was formally released in August, and its signatories include the co-founder Collison brothers and the president responsible for technology and business. It is notable for explicitly presenting the concept of the singularity as a premise for management, revisiting a position that had been treated as an underlying assumption for 8 months.