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OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

openrouter.ai

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Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#161
post #125

The moat will disappear in 1-2 years

The real moat will be the user base they've built during that time. I could copy every feature of their website within a few weeks, but I couldn't copy that.

Users can easily switch if they find better alternatives.

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#163

Hi HN! OpenRouter co-founder and COO here. Lots of questions about why we raised! First off: We remain founder-led and founder-controlled, and intend on being here for a long time, creating awesome products for builders all over the world. We are basically a bunch of tinkerers who like building things, and try to make stuff that we would like, when building with AI. Since this is about the raise though, happy to shar…

Are you thinking of hiring any PMs? love your product!

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#164

Hi HN! OpenRouter co-founder and COO here. Lots of questions about why we raised! First off: We remain founder-led and founder-controlled, and intend on being here for a long time, creating awesome products for builders all over the world. We are basically a bunch of tinkerers who like building things, and try to make stuff that we would like, when building with AI. Since this is about the raise though, happy to shar…

Would it be possible to get "raw" access to the provider APIs, but still keep the consolidated billing? The unified API is great when it works, but it often causes hassle with more exotic use cases and new API features.

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#165

Hi HN! OpenRouter co-founder and COO here. Lots of questions about why we raised! First off: We remain founder-led and founder-controlled, and intend on being here for a long time, creating awesome products for builders all over the world. We are basically a bunch of tinkerers who like building things, and try to make stuff that we would like, when building with AI. Since this is about the raise though, happy to shar…

Heya! First off, I love your product. consolidated billing/auth solves a big pain-point, so thank you.

Less about the funding and more about the long game: where do you see OpenRouter in 3-5 years, and which product bets are you most excited about right now? Do you guys think with this new raise you'll branch out into other adjacent verticals?

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#166

Hi HN! OpenRouter co-founder and COO here. Lots of questions about why we raised! First off: We remain founder-led and founder-controlled, and intend on being here for a long time, creating awesome products for builders all over the world. We are basically a bunch of tinkerers who like building things, and try to make stuff that we would like, when building with AI. Since this is about the raise though, happy to shar…

Would it be possible to get "raw" access to the provider APIs, but still keep the consolidated billing? The unified API is great when it works, but it often causes hassle with more exotic use cases and new API features.

i second this, And I think this will only get worse as the bigger companies seek to decommoditize their models and make moats

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried Alibaba Cloud. They have no caps. This was the reason to cancel my account there. Deepseek has a prepaid model. (Pretty impressive, what fits into 10 Dollar)

Literally every credit card I own allows me to make a virtual card that is either single use or has a cap.

Does not matter, you still owe what you used for a service

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#168

As someone who uses OpenRouter extensively (and wrote an unintentional adjacent PR piece a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48317294 ), it's definitely the best way to try out new models without fiddling with each providers distinct APIs which is becoming a recurring concern as of late. That said, I don't understand the people who use something a full agentic backbone with expensive models like Clau…

im happy to pay 5% extra for consolidated billing and usage limits. It just makes it easier

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#169
Maybe I'm just a casual user, but I'm a bit surprised at the negativity in this thread.

The 5% fee is a rounding error for your average small time user, and it makes testing new models as simple as changing one string.

Can spin up separate models for separate budgets too.

It's a really simple product that just works

Re: OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

#170

As someone who uses OpenRouter extensively (and wrote an unintentional adjacent PR piece a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48317294 ), it's definitely the best way to try out new models without fiddling with each providers distinct APIs which is becoming a recurring concern as of late. That said, I don't understand the people who use something a full agentic backbone with expensive models like Clau…

IDK, but that sounds like something that would be better implemented with an open-source library to which providers supply support patches. Why do I need a company to act as a proxy and not just run a relatively simple shim layer on my machine? I'm just a stupid systems programmer working in the bowels of AI and I understand there is a lot of seemingly pointless software which exists solely to provide a slight boost…

A library with a bunch of different providers doesn’t solve the payment/billing problem (which is one of the main openrouter benefits). IMO being able to buy credits and not have them locked to one provider is worth the 5% to me.
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