OpenAI has acquired personal finance startup Hiro Finance, according to an announcement from founder Ethan Bloch and confirmation from OpenAI to TechCrunch. The specific terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed.
Hiro Finance plans to shut down operations on April 20, with all data set to be deleted from its servers by May 13. This transition suggests an acquihire strategy, with Bloch indicating that the company’s employees will be joining OpenAI. While the exact number of employees is unspecified, LinkedIn lists about 10 associated with Hiro.
Founded in 2023, Hiro Finance launched its AI-powered financial planning tool approximately five months ago. The tool allowed users to input financial data like salary, debts, and costs to create various financial scenarios. According to Bloch, the AI was specially designed to handle financial math, incorporating features that enabled users to verify accuracy.
Significantly, this acquisition aligns with OpenAI’s broader strategy of enhancing its offerings for business finance teams, heavily promoting its ChatGPT product in this domain. However, it remains unclear whether OpenAI intends to develop a specialized financial planning application following this move.
Bloch previously established Digit, a digital-only banking service, which was sold to Oportun in 2021 for over $200 million. This deal adds to OpenAI’s portfolio of financial applications, indicating the company’s interest in integrating more financial technology expertise.
Bloch’s entrepreneurial history includes 15 projects, beginning his tech career at age 13. After 13 unsuccessful ventures, he sold Flowtown for $4.5 million and Digit for approximately $230 million. This latest acquisition positions OpenAI for continued growth, particularly as it may explore the possibility of an initial public offering in the future.
