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No one would ever call payment processing a glamorous business, although if anyone could make it interesting, it’s Stripe’s founders, the Collison brothers (they’re Irish, and one of them has a podcast set in a pub!). Stripe has been out of the limelight for a while, but that’s changed in recent weeks based on speculation that it has been involved simultaneously in a bid for PayPal and talks to buy OpenRouter.
On Wednesday, Stripe confirmed one of those deals: the purchase of OpenRouter, which is like a retail store that sells access to hundreds of AI models, including the leading ones from Anthropic. Essentially, OpenRouter makes it possible for businesses and consumers to pick and choose different AI models through a single provider and billing system. Stripe may have another deal coming soon: A report last Friday in The Wall Street Journal suggested the PayPal acquisition was also getting closer. We’ll see how that shakes out over time. But the OpenRouter purchase is arguably more forward looking. (For more on Stripe’s business trajectory and its sudden interest in M&A, see this story.)
OpenRouter is an increasingly valuable business, thanks to the growing need businesses have for AI technology. Indeed, OpenRouter’s monthly revenue has more than tripled to about $13 million since April, we reported Tuesday. Despite that spectacular growth, the price Stripe is said to be paying looks a little over the top. Stripe didn’t disclose it, but reports on Monday and today suggested it was around $7 billion to $7.5 billion. That’s quite the appreciation on OpenRouter’s valuation of $1.3 billion from May, when it last raised money.
Sure, its business is exploding—but competition is also increasing. As we reported, several companies are contemplating entering the sector, and rivals such as Vercel are already in it. OpenRouter has an early lead, but it’s unclear how much of a moat it has. And given how quickly this market is changing, who can be confident OpenRouter’s position is unassailable?
If this deal turns out to be an overpriced bust, the good news for Stripe is that as a private company, it can easily keep the embarrassing details under wraps. Incidentally, it’s a pity Stripe's founders can’t keep under wraps their belief that the singularity has started. Let’s hope this OpenRouter deal wasn’t predicated on that wacky concept. (For more on OpenRouter, see here and here.)
Unitree’s Pop
Now that’s a first-day IPO pop! Shares of Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree closed up 460% at its public market debut in Shanghai on Wednesday. That puts SpaceX’s opening-day pop of 18.5% into perspective.
It’s been a while since the U.S. markets have seen a tech IPO open this strongly. Older folks might recall the 1999 (dot-com era) IPO of VA Linux Systems, which sold computers that ran on the Linux open-source operating system. That IPO was priced at $30 and rose about 700% to close at $239.25 on its first day, according to this Wall Street Journal account.
In recent years, the period of late 2020–21 stands out for frothy pops. That’s when DoorDash opened with an 86% pop, Airbnb rose 112% on its first day and Snowflake more than doubled. We all know what happened next.
In Other News
• OpenAI is preparing to roll out a system to analyze user interactions with its models for cybersecurity and other safety concerns without storing customer data, in a move that positions the company to potentially lure customers frustrated over how Anthropic has handled similar issues.
• Marvell Technology granted Google a warrant to buy up to 58.97 million shares at an exercise price of $206.58, equivalent to 6% of Marvell’s outstanding shares. Marvell said the stock award reflects an expanded partnership the two companies have struck for Marvell to develop custom chip products for Google’s tensor processing unit effort.
• President Donald Trump said U.S. regulators are working to bring Hyperliquid, a popular offshore venue for perpetual futures, to the U.S. The price of Hyperliquid token jumped 22% after the remark.
Today on The Information’s TITV
Check out today’s episode of TITV in which we discuss OpenAI’s decision to pause development on one of its models due to cybersecurity concerns.
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