OpenAI buys Hiro Finance

OpenAI has acquired Hiro Finance, a startup that built an artificial intelligence tool for personal money planning, and Hiro is shutting down its app on April 20. (techcrunch.com) Hiro founder Ethan Bloch announced the deal on Monday, April 13, and OpenAI confirmed it to TechCrunch. The companies did not disclose the price or any other financial terms. (techcrunch.com) Hiro said it will stop accepting new signups immediately, take its product offline on April 20, 2026, and delete user data from its servers by May 13, 2026. Reports describing the transaction say Hiro’s team is joining OpenAI, making the deal look like an acquihire rather than a product rollout. (thenextweb.com) (dataconomy.com) Hiro’s product asked users for salary, debt, and monthly spending, then ran “what if” scenarios to show how choices could affect savings and budgets. The startup launched that consumer tool about five months ago after being founded in 2023. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The deal adds a personal-finance team to OpenAI as the company is already pitching banks and other financial firms on artificial intelligence tools for research, analysis, operations, and client service. OpenAI’s financial-services page says its products are built for the security and control standards those companies require. (openai.com) OpenAI has also been using acquisitions to add specialized teams in other areas. In March, it said its planned Astral deal would help build Codex, its software engineering agent, and in April it announced an acquisition of business-news startup TBPN. (openai.com 1) (openai.com 2) Hiro came into the deal with backing from Ribbit, General Catalyst, and Restive, three investors with deep ties in financial technology. Bloch had already built and sold one consumer-finance company before Hiro: Digit, which Oportun bought in 2021 for about $213 million. (techcrunch.com 1) (techcrunch.com 2) OpenAI has not said whether Hiro’s software will reappear inside ChatGPT or another product. What it has confirmed is simpler: Hiro is being folded in, its standalone app is ending this week, and its team is moving over. (techcrunch.com)