ChatGPT adds Ticketmaster app; Hiro joins OpenAI
Ticketmaster has launched an app inside ChatGPT that brings event discovery and potential paid-marketing placements into OpenAI’s chatbot environment. Separately, OpenAI acquired Hiro, a personal-finance AI app whose service will shut down as the team and technology fold into OpenAI’s offerings, suggesting the company is expanding both distribution and domain capabilities. (musicbusinessworldwide.com, thenextweb.com)
Ticketmaster is now inside ChatGPT, and OpenAI has separately bought finance startup Hiro as it adds more apps and specialist teams around its chatbot. (business.ticketmaster.com, techcrunch.com) Ticketmaster said on April 9 that fans can connect its ChatGPT app to discover events, compare seating options, and move to Ticketmaster’s marketplace to buy tickets. The company said the app puts event discovery into ChatGPT, which it described as having 900 million weekly active users. (business.ticketmaster.com) Ticketmaster also said the new setup creates a paid-marketing channel inside ChatGPT, and Music Business Worldwide reported that OpenAI is testing sponsored placements with Ticketmaster among the participants. SeatGeek launched a ChatGPT integration in late March, giving ticketing platforms a second route into the app directory. (business.ticketmaster.com, musicbusinessworldwide.com) OpenAI’s app system is the plumbing behind that shift. OpenAI introduced apps for ChatGPT in October 2025, said they can surface interactive interfaces inside a conversation, and later renamed connectors to apps in December 2025 as it folded those tools into one directory. (openai.com, help.openai.com) On the finance side, OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch on April 13 that it acquired Hiro Finance, a startup founded by Ethan Bloch. TechCrunch reported that terms were not disclosed and that Hiro had backing from Ribbit, General Catalyst, and Restive. (techcrunch.com) Hiro’s product is shutting down rather than continuing as a standalone service. Multiple reports said Hiro will cease operations on April 20, 2026, and delete stored user data by May 13, 2026, as the team joins OpenAI. (techcrunch.com, thenextweb.com, finance.yahoo.com) The two moves land amid a broader OpenAI expansion push. OpenAI’s newsroom shows company announcements for acquisitions including TBPN on April 2 and a planned Astral deal announced on March 19, while its March 24 product post described ChatGPT as a place for product discovery. (openai.com, openai.com) Taken together, the Ticketmaster launch and the Hiro deal show OpenAI adding both storefronts and specialists: more ways for people to do things inside ChatGPT, and more domain-specific talent behind the answers. (business.ticketmaster.com, techcrunch.com, openai.com)
