Payments provider Stripe has announced plans to acquire the AI model gateway and marketplace OpenRouter in a bid to expand its AI token optimisation offerings.
OpenRouter offers users access to more than 500 AI models, including popular offerings from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, via a single API key.
It also offers centralised billing, allowing firms to track and limit their AI token spending, as well as failover to automatically route prompts to models depending on factors such as budget and latency requirements.
Stripe said it has been working with its customers to help them manage their AI token costs and that OpenRouter’s platform will allow it to orchestrate AI tasks across models dynamically to balance cost and performance.
Patrick Collison, co-founder and chief executive of Stripe, said: “Tokens are the central currency for companies building with AI, and it’s clear that the real-world economic potential will depend on making good use of scarce compute resources.
“Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI, and together with OpenRouter we’ll help businesses maximize profitability by routing their requests intelligently and spending their tokens efficiently.”
While neither party has disclosed the deal’s monetary value, Reuters reported the deal was worth more than $8 billion, citing a source familiar with the matter.
This would make it Stripe’s largest acquisition to date. The FinTech, which is valued at approximately $159 billion as of February 2026, has reportedly partnered with private equity group Advent International to submit a $53 billion bid for PayPal.
