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Stripe reaches for the model gateway as SpaceX closes on Cursor

Bloomberg says Stripe agreed to buy OpenRouter, a 400-model gateway, for over 7 billion dollars. SpaceX closed its 60 billion dollar Cursor purchase. Axios opened its archive to OpenAI for tools on 13 local newsletters.

Artificial Intelligence··Midday
On a bright waterfront platform, a crane lowers a glass-and-steel server module wrapped in cables onto three modules of different sizes and materials.

Stripe moves to buy the 400-model gateway

Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Stripe has finalised a deal to buy OpenRouter for more than 7 billion dollars. OpenRouter routes requests to more than 400 AI models through a single interface. The startup was valued at 1.3 billion dollars in a funding round three months ago; that May round raised 113 million dollars led by Alphabet's CapitalG alongside Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures. The company was founded in 2023 and says it serves 8 million users who pick among models by task and budget. TechCrunch, citing Bloomberg, said Stripe would not comment on rumours or speculation. The Wall Street Journal had reported talks a month earlier. Co-founder Alex Atallah has described the company as Stripe for AI, a single access point that keeps customers from being tied to one vendor.[1]

SpaceX closes the Cursor purchase

A deal that began as an option in April and was advanced in June closed on 15 August. The price is 60 billion dollars in stock. Cursor says it gains access to SpaceX's fleet of graphics processors, and has pointed to access to the largest fleet of graphics processors in the world. SpaceX said it is building the computing capacity needed to scale intelligence far beyond what exists today, and that Cursor will be one place where that intelligence becomes useful. SpaceX also acquired xAI earlier this year, and it rents computing capacity to Anthropic and Google.[2]

Axios opens its archive and takes tools for 13 newsletters

A 3-year agreement between Axios and OpenAI gives OpenAI access to all Axios content for training ChatGPT. In return, 13 local Axios newsletters get free use of OpenAI's content-generation tools. The terms come from an interview Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei gave to the Columbia Journalism Review. VandeHei said he does not have much time for people who reject AI, and told staff they do not have a choice: if they are scared or dislike it, they still have to adopt it. Axios also covers the technology industry, and OpenAI itself. Axios is majority-owned by Cox Enterprises.[3]

References

  1. News sourceTechCrunchStripe moves to buy OpenRouter, the gateway in front of 400 models↩
  2. News sourceTechCrunchSpaceX completes its takeover of AI coding company Cursor↩
  3. News sourceFuturismAxios opens its whole archive to OpenAI and takes tools for 13 local newsletters↩
AI safety and regulationChip wars and the supply chainThe frontier model race

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