Stripe has completed the acquisition of AI model routing platform OpenRouter for an estimated $7.5 billion, far exceeding OpenRouter’s previous valuation of $1.3 billion. The founders of OpenRouter will receive around $1.5 billion while investors get approximately $6 billion in returns. OpenRouter will operate independently with no changes to its products, mission, or services. Stripe says the technology aligns well with its developer ecosystem and will be used for internal AI projects as well as to develop model-agnostic AI agent products. The company’s founders note that artificial intelligence is ushering in a new economic phase. Around 88% of the Forbes AI 50 companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, use Stripe’s payment services. Industry experts view the deal as part of Stripe’s expansion beyond payments into AI cost management and infrastructure, helping it enter new markets such as AI model call fees and token cost management. The acquisition enhances Stripe’s understanding of developers’ AI usage patterns and strengthens its position in the AI supply chain, model service provider network, and cloud computing ecosystem as competition in these areas intensifies.