Alex Atallah, co-founder of OpenSea, is back with a bold new project: OpenRouter, a platform designed to streamline access to large language models (LLMs).
OpenRouter Raises $40M to Simplify AI Model Access
Backed by a $40 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures, the startup is now valued at $500 million.
OpenRouter acts as a smart traffic controller for AI requests. Instead of developers manually picking between models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, or others, the platform routes prompts to the best option based on speed, cost, accuracy, or privacy. This helps cut down the growing expense and complexity of LLM integration.
“AI is becoming more fragmented, and the cost of inference is exploding,” said Atallah. “Companies are realizing they can’t keep building homegrown tools forever.”
OpenRouter’s approach has already gained traction. Since launching in 2023, it has grown to over $100 million in annualized inference spend, serving more than a million developers. Its API integrates with tools like VSCode and Zapier, and it maintains close relationships with model providers—including early access to GPT-4.1 via OpenAI.
Unlike standard marketplaces, OpenRouter doesn’t just list models—it actively routes traffic and ensures uptime. It operates on a credit-based system and takes a fee per request. The company’s goal is to give enterprises and developers plug-and-play access to advanced AI without the backend hassle.
Atallah, who left OpenSea in 2022 to build “from zero to one,” co-founded the company with Louis Vichy. The team says the new capital will go toward scaling infrastructure and meeting rising enterprise demand for robust, model-agnostic AI access.
Alexander Zdravkov
Reporter at Coindoo
Alexander Zdravkov is passionate about questions of meaning. He is a fluent German speaker as well as He has been in the crypto space for more than three years and has an eye for spotting emerging trends in the world of digital currencies. Whether providing in-depth analysis or reporting on all topics on a daily basis, his deep understanding and enthusiasm for what he does makes him a valuable addition to the team.
Source: https://coindoo.com/andreessen-horowitz-backs-opensea-veterans-ai-startup-in-40m-round/