Tech Brew Ride Home - Stripe Wants To Buy Everything

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Stripe was in talks to buy OpenRouter for as much as $10B while still chasing PayPal. Midjourney bought astrology app Co-Star, Meta launched Facebook Verified and a standalone Seller app, and Nvidia and Microsoft defended open-weight AI. Sources: Stripe is in talks to acquire OpenRouter, which helps developers use AI models and could fetch ~$10B; PitchBook: OpenRouter was valued at $1.3B in May (WSJ) Sources: Stripe and Advent's unsolicited $53B PayPal offer, backed by ~$50B in committed bank financing, would create a payments giant processing ~$3.7T annually; PayPal has not responded (Reuters) Midjourney bought astrology app Co-Star, which uses AI to offer personalized advice, in the spring and is building its first standalone image-generation app (Bloomberg) Meta launches Facebook Verified, a free program it says will verify that users are real humans by analyzing a facial recognition selfie and assigning badges (Engadget) Meta launches Seller, a free standalone app version of Facebook Marketplace; Seller includes AI features that scan photos to fill out listings automatically (NYT) Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, a16z, and others sign a letter defending open-source AI; Jensen Huang, in his first X post, says open models strengthen cybersecurity (The Information) Signatories including Palantir avoid naming China or Moonshot in the open-weight letter, framing it instead around US AI leadership being judged by a strong open ecosystem, not one frontier model (Bloomberg) Longreads Meet All The Middle Aged Women Who Don't Exist: AI-generated wellness influencers, all gorgeous and all "57", are selling NMN supplements to women over 40 (Charlotte's Book) Big US pizza delivery chains are struggling as DoorDash and Uber Eats give independent pizzerias greater market access, erasing the tech moat chains once had (FT) Subscribe to the ad-free feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the TechBrewrite home for Friday, July 24th, 2026. I'm Brian McCullough today. Stripe is in talks to buy OpenRouter for as much as $10 billion while still chasing PayPal. Mid Journey bought Astrology app, Costar, meta launched Facebook verified and a standalone seller app, and Nvidia and Microsoft defended Openweight AI. Oh, and the weekend long-read suggestions. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Every day, shareholders meet to discuss important matters about the companies you invest in. Now you can make your voice heard too.

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Vanguard investors own shares of their index funds and those funds own shares of the companies they invest in. Vanguard Marketing Corporation distributor. Some interesting acquisitions or potential moves to tell you about. Sources tell the journal that Stripe is in talks to acquire OpenRouter, which helps developers use various AI models, even cheaper ones. They say OpenRourter could fetch around $10 billion, which is interesting, because according to Pitch Book, OpenRouter was valued at $1.3 billion back in May.

I guess the moving to cheaper models thing is a big deal right now. quote, OpenRouter is part of an emerging crop of startups that have a lucrative niche between AI developers and the companies that want to use them. Founded in 2023, the company sells software that allows customers to easily access AI models built by OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as open-weight alternatives that are free for anyone to download and run. The company lists hundreds of large language models on its platform allowing developers and businesses to easily access, compare, and switch between them. A deal for OpenRouter could allow Stripe to seize upon a hot area of growth in the AI market. Many tech companies are looking to use a wide range of different AI models as a way to control spending and diversify away from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Stripe is primarily a payments processor helping companies across the internet accept payments, but it has recently tried to expand into new areas such as infrastructure for AI and stablecoin payments. Its valuation hit $159 billion earlier this year. OpenRouter and Stripe also already have a partner, together where OpenRouter uses Stripe to accept payments from its customers, among other things. OpenRouter was most recently valued at $1.3 billion back in May, according to Pitchbook. Its backers include Menlo Ventures and Capital G, the growth venture fund of Google Parent Company Alphabet. The information reported earlier that OpenRowder was fielding takeover interest.

Stripe has separately been pursuing a deal for PayPal alongside private equity firm Advent International. The duo recently made an unsolicited offer that would value PayPal at roughly $53 billion, end quote. Yeah, did we talk about that? I actually legitimately cannot remember, quoting Reuters. The offer is submitted earlier this month is backed by about $50 billion in committed financing from banks, said one of the people involved in the deal. The offer represents around a 28% premium to PayPal's closing price recently. Combining Stripe and PayPal, the most widely used payment platform for internet merchants would create one of the world's largest global online payments companies, processing some $3.7 trillion of annual payment vaults.

volume. The proposal follows an initial approach made in early April. The source said, Stripe and Advent have not received a response from PayPal and are seeking to advance discussions in the coming weeks, the sources said, under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal with each holding an equity stake rather than breaking up the company. The people said, adding that there is no certainty the approach will result in a transaction, end quote. And Mid Journey continues to be an odd one. Last we heard from them, they had unveiled an ultrasound-based full-body scanner. Now they've bought an astrology app, quoting Bloomberg.

Artificial Intelligence Lab Mid-Journey has bought the popular astrology app, Co-Star, and is building its first standalone image-generation app, the startup's latest move to push into new business areas after promising an ambitious expansion last month. Co-star uses birth charts and a combination of AI and human writing to offer personalized advice and assess compatibility between the user and any friends they add. The free app, which offers some paid features, has about 4.3 million monthly active users, according to sensor tower data. The previously unreported acquisition closed this spring,

Mid Journey said it declined to disclose financial terms. Mid Journey, best known for offering a generative AI subscription service that lets customers create images and video clips, surprise the industry last month, by announcing it's working on a full-body ultrasound machine that will eventually be installed in spa locations. That device is one of eight projects. The San Francisco-based startup is currently focused on. split between four hardware and four software initiatives, it said at the time. The co-star acquisition is just one part of the company's plan to reimagine itself. Tying together mid-journeys increasingly eclectic range of projects is this humanistic theme across everything.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Holtz said in an interview, Holtz said the company is planning to introduce an image creation app based on the generative AI technology it's best known for before expanding into other uses like storytelling with images and video or creating virtual worlds. The research lab is also working on a new AI video model, he said. Something that we're talking a lot about is, as we build more advanced video models, what is a really fun and nice way to actually make stories, Holtz said of the future tools. While OpenAI is now defunct Sora app tried to make video generation more accessible

by letting users create TikTok-style clips with a single text prompt, it's not really storytelling per se, he added. Mid Journey may be trying to learn from the social aspect of co-stars compatibility reports and include features such as letting users create images with others or find people with similar creative pursuits, according to both Holtz and Guller. There's always been a lot of opportunity for doing stuff like this, but we never really had a team to do it before, Holtz said. Co-star, which has been profitable, may expand into the online dating space, Guller said,

without providing more details. The app currently shows compatibility metrics for users only if they have manually added each other as friends. It is not designed to match strangers based on how compatible they are, despite that being a popular user request, Guller said, end quote. And why is proof of life a big deal all of a sudden? I probably know the answer, right? Following this week's Google News, quoting Engadgett, in the face of AI content profiles and slop, Mata hopes a new Facebook verified program will help human users interact with other humans.

Based on a facial recognition selfie, checked against your existing profile picks, The company says the process will only take a few minutes. It's interesting that meta has chosen to use facial recognition given recent legal settlements and the pushback over facial recognition inside its smart glasses. To qualify, you will have to be over 18 and in good standing with Facebook's community standards. Once you pass the test, your verified badge will appear across marketplace, dating, and other parts of Facebook sites and services. The big difference between this and the Facebook badge of old is that it's explicitly only identity confirmation, not endorsement. from Facebook or any guarantee of their trustworthiness. Unlike meta-verified, it's entirely free.

The feature comes as a wave of scammers and bad actors are using generative AI tools to create and use fake profiles with realistic profile images, photos, and backstories capable of sending automated messages at scale. It's an attempt by meta to protect its users to some extent from fraud and scams. It's part of several Facebook announcements made this morning, including a new push into immersive video, aka more TikTok chasing. It teased a reimagined experience that will test full-screen videos for a section of users the moment they open the app. Perhaps learning lessons from aggressive changes to the base Facebook experience in the past, meta says users will have the option to opt out and go back to a typical feed-first interface if they want.

The feature won't be available for pages or promote accounts and will be gradually rolled out across Facebook from Monday, starting in select markets with plans to expand globally, end quote. Legendary has arrived in Alberta with BetMGM Casino. Sign up to unlock access to over 4,000 casino games, including exclusive slots you can't spin anywhere else. Survivor's ready? The iconic TV show is now an online casino game, where you can tap into Island Fun. BetMGM has also brought the prices right, Game of Thrones, Family Feud, MGM millions, and so many more exclusive casino games to Alberta.

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seller includes AI features that scan photos to fill out listings automatically. I need to get on this this weekend. I've got a used kids bicycle I need to sell. Quoting the times. Ten years ago, when Meta noticed that millions of Facebook users were buying and selling items on its platform, it spun up a part of the app called Facebook Marketplace for them to do just that. Since then, Marketplace has become one of the most popular parts of Facebook where people go for what is essentially the Internet's largest garage sale of clothes, furniture, and used cars. On Friday, Meta capitalized on that popularity, with the launch of seller, a standalone app for Marketplace Sellers.

The move was part of meta's strategy to innovate on its original social network. In May, the Silicon Valley Company released an app called Forum for people who use Facebook groups, another core part of Facebook as it tries to nurture Facebook's most popular communities beyond its news feed. Facebook Marketplace has been a hit that has kept people, especially younger users, interested in Facebook. A third of the young adults who use Facebook each day also use Marketplace, Mr. Allison said, Every month, more than 430 million items, including 44 million vehicles, are listed on Marketplace globally. Last year, Meta created a plan for a new slate of apps to cater to Facebook's

power users, whom Mr. Allison described as the people that are making stuff happen. Beyond traditional content creators, they include sellers on Marketplace and users who run their own Facebook groups. Users can sign into seller with their Facebook accounts, which will sink their old listings of items that are for sale. From there, people can navigate between their inbox, a dashboard with data on old listings and a tool to create new ones. Seller is free and will also be available in web browsers for users who download the app. Meta makes money for Marketplace from advertisements on the app and does not take a cut of sales. Seller also includes new AI features like scanning photos with AI to fill out listings automatically.

The goal of the AI features is to make selling items less of a hassle without replacing the human elements, Mr. Allison said, which is why many people go to Marketplace in the first place, end quote. Meta, NVIDIA, Microsoft, A16Z, and others have signed a letter defending open-source AI, Jensen Huang, in his first ex-post, says Open Models Strengthen Cybersecurity. Quoting Bloomberg, in a letter Friday tech firms, including Palantir and Meta platforms, argued that an open approach to AI software development was critical to continuing innovation in AI and other key areas of the economy. Openweight models allow users to download and,

customize the technology, making it more versatile to developers and businesses. Openweight models are, quote, an important part of that foundation because they make advanced AI more accessible, adaptable, and widely available, read the letter, which was shared by NVIDIA chief executive officer Jensen Wong in his first post to a new personal X account. Microsoft CEO Satcha Nadella also shared it from his account. Chinese companies, including DeepSeek, have previously flooded the market with more affordable open models that typically lag behind the most cutting-edge software from U.S. rivals, but nonetheless can undercut them on price. While some developers like OpenA.I do offer open alternatives, much of their focus has been on closed or proprietary systems that they sell

the businesses and customers to recoup the substantial cost of building AI. The Coalition of Tech firms did not mention China or Moonshot in the letter, but rather appealed to the need to bolster and maintain U.S. competitiveness in AI. Openweight models have the potential to bolster global adoption of AI, thereby driving up sales of chips from firms like Nvidia. Our AI leadership will be judged not by one frontier AI model, but by whether the United States builds a strong open ecosystem that diffuses into every sector. The letter said, this is essential for creating opportunities for innovation and prosperity across the country, end quote. Time for the weekend long read suggestions. And first up, meet all the middle-aged women who

don't exist. They're all gorgeous, apparently. They're all 57 years old. And they're all selling you N-M-N. AI-generated wellness influencers are targeting women over 40 all the time now, quoting Charlotte's book. Jennifer, again, is created to look exactly like the dream, but not possible goal of a 50-something woman. She is fit and toned, chiseled, but natural. She looks her age, but her skin is perfect, and her cheekbones and jawline are impossibly tight. These women all use similar language and poses, no ice baths, no crazy detoxes, SPF, 10,000 steps, and all it takes is these magic supplements. Duh, silly middle-aged women. I can't believe I spent all that money and got a facelifter did a silly thing like detoxing and juice cleanses to help slim down. I just should have taken an N-M-N supplement and a probiotic. It's that simple. I have to admit that I was fooled by these

videos. I couldn't tell they were AI until a fitness influencer that I followed called one of them out. And once I saw it, I could not unsee it. Now I see them everywhere. Tons of Amazon AI supplement influencers. We're already swimming in manufactured reality. So is an AI woman really where we draw the line? I don't know the answer, but it upsets me. Am I the only one more upset about this because I genuinely believed Isabel was a real person? This isn't just aspirational marketing. It's manufactured identity. Isabel is not a woman with great genes. She is not a woman with incredible discipline. She is not a woman at all. She is a carefully engineered marketing avatar designed to trigger the exact insecurities women in their 50s are already struggling with, then conveniently offer the solution.

That's not influencer marketing, that's a grift, end quote. And then from the FT, apparently big U.S. pizza delivery chains are struggling as apps such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, give independent pizzerias and other restaurants greater market access, quote, Papa John's plans to close about 200 locations by December. Pizza Hut sold to private equity last month, and shares and dominoes have slid about 30% in the past year. Chain pizza revenue declined overall in 2025 after years of slowing growth, according to market research firm Technomic. Analysts say a significant reason for pizza's tumble is a long-term challenge facing the delivery

business. Once, pizza chain's delivery apparatus was the biggest game in town for hungry consumers who wanted hot food at their door. Now, the likes of Uber Eats and DoorDash mean other types of restaurants have easy access to the capability that once set dominoes and its peers apart. Delivery sales at quick service pizza chains have slipped roughly 15%. percent since 2021, according to J.P. Morgan. The rise of delivery apps provided a short-term boost for some pizza companies, Papa John's and Pizza Hut, which both joined the apps in the late

2010, said that the availability of third-party delivery drivers helped them mitigate pandemic-era labor shortages. But analysts say third-party apps have dramatically increased the competitive pressure facing pizza delivery from all sides. Pizza chains, quote, used to have a large gap relative to competitors when it came to technology, said John Tower and analysts at Citibank. Pizza Hut, Papa John's, and Domino's all launched mobile ordering apps by the early 2010s, which allowed the chains to offer a smoother ordering process than independent pizzerias and to promote deals on the app. Now local pizza stores can simply sell on Uber Eats.

The competitive moat around technology that chains once had is dwindling, Tower said, end quote. No bonus content this weekend. Talk to you on Monday. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Play-O-Jo. The online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games. What you win is yours to keep with no wagering requirements, instant payouts, and no minimum withdraws.

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