Stripe agreed to buy AI marketplace OpenRouter for $8bn cash and stock, its largest acquisition, aiming to be at centre of AI economy. Led by brothers Patrick and John Collison, Stripe said the deal will help businesses route AI requests intelligently and spend tokens efficiently.

OpenRouter, founded by Alex Atallah (also of OpenSea), lets companies switch between AI models; investors include Alphabet, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz. Atallah said OpenRouter will keep its name, product, roadmap and mission but operate faster with Stripe’s reach.

The move is part of Stripe’s broader push into AI, addressing high compute demand, AI agent payments, and fraud. Stripe also launched a joint bid with Advent International to acquire PayPal for about $53bn, and previously bought stablecoins firm Bridge and billing platform Metronome to enable streaming payments based on token usage.

Stripe, valued at $159bn in a February tender, maintains dual HQ in Dublin and San Francisco and has been on an acquisition spree in digital assets and AI, emphasizing tokens as the central currency for AI companies.