Latest / The Startup Exit Podcast with Fexingo: IPOs, Acquisitions, and Founder Liquidity Events
How OpenRouter Doubled Valuation in a Year Without VC
OpenRouter just raised at a $1.3 billion valuation, more than doubling in a year — but they did it without traditional VC. Lucas and Luna break down the company's unconventional path: a lean team, a marketplace model for AI inference, and a strategy that bypassed the typical venture capital playbook. They compare OpenRouter's approach to how Stripe and others used private secondaries and strategic funding to control their own exits. Plus: what this means for founders considering IPO or acquisition in 2026. And a quick note on why this podcast stays ad-free.
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The skinny
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