Payments company Stripe told its investors in a letter that it considers January 1 to mark the 'beginning of the singularity', and that it has been operating the business on that basis for the past eight months. The letter, first reported by Axios, was sent alongside Stripe's confirmation that it is acquiring AI model-routing platform OpenRouter.
The letter was signed by Stripe co-founders and co-chief executives Patrick Collison and John Collison, along with president of technology and business William Gaybrick. In it, the executives wrote that the term 'singularity' is vague and possibly overused, but that the company had identified a significant shift in long-term trends, including a sharp rise in the rate of new firm creation, that led it to treat the shift as a genuine turning point. They said Stripe now has two priorities - accelerating AI adoption across the economy, and ensuring that AI deployment increases people's control over their own economic lives.
The singularity, as a concept, describes a hypothetical point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and becomes capable of improving itself without human input.
Business performance cited
Stripe said in the letter that the singularity appears to be benefiting its core business. The company reported that first-half revenue rose 41 percent year-on-year, while free cash flow rose 43 percent. Stripe added that 88 percent of the companies on the Forbes AI 50 list, including OpenAI and Anthropic, use its products. The letter also noted that Stripe's revenue share from AI and crypto companies had more than doubled year-on-year.
The company reiterated that it remains privately held, and framed this as an advantage heading into what it described as a more unpredictable period for business. The letter stated that the world is becoming harder to predict and that effective leadership will be required of every company, adding that Stripe's private structure supports a long-term course.
OpenRouter acquisition confirmed
Stripe confirmed that it is acquiring OpenRouter, an AI model-routing startup, without disclosing the deal value. Multiple reports have put the price above $7 billion, with Axios citing a figure of more than $8 billion, largely in stock, and other outlets citing a New York Times report of $7.5 billion. Either figure represents a sharp premium over OpenRouter's $1.3-billion valuation from a Series B funding round in May.
Under the reported $7.5-billion figure, OpenRouter founders Alex Atallah, Chris Clark and Louis Vichy would receive a combined $1.5 billion from the sale, with the remaining $6 billion going to the company's investors, who include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Nvidia and CapitalG. Stripe is reported to have outbid other interested parties, including Databricks, for the company. OpenRouter has said it will continue operating under its existing name, product and roadmap after the deal closes.
Other executives on the singularity
Stripe's letter follows similar statements from other technology executives this year. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in July that the world is already in the singularity, describing the moment as one he had anticipated for years and calling it likely to be positive for the world. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk wrote on X in January that the singularity had been entered.
