OpenAI Sets Sights on Fintech With Latest Hiro Finance Acquisition
In Focus
- Hiro staff will be shifting to OpenAI following the acquisition
- The fintech platform uses AI to model scenarios based on financial data
- Hiro is trained to perform financial calculations
OpenAI is acquiring Hiro Finance, a fintech startup that offers AI-powered financial planning to consumers. News about the acquisition was shared by Hiro Finance founder, Ethan Bloch, on LinkedIn. Founded in 2023, Hiro Finance has been backed by General Catalyst, Restive, and venture capital firm Ribbit.
Hiro Uses AI to Support Financial Decisions
Hiro helps users make better financial decisions by modeling scenarios based on data like salary, monthly costs, and debts. The fintech platform is specially trained to perform financial calculations.
An important design feature is a built-in verification option that allows users to confirm the accuracy of AI-generated calculations. At a time when large language models are struggling with numerical reasoning, Hiro’s verification feature serves as a safeguard for users.
OpenAI already positions ChatGPT as an ideal tool for finance teams in businesses. By acquiring Hiro, the company appears to be keen on expanding its in-house fintech talent. The AI developer could choose to expand Hiro into a dedicated financial planning product, but this is still unclear.
Terms of the Deal Remain Unknown
The terms of the Hiro Finance AI startup acquisition were not immediately disclosed. The fintech startup has not disclosed how much it has raised either. However, Bloch mentioned that Hiro staff will be shifting to OpenAI with him, which makes the latest transaction an acquihire.
It’s not clear how many employees will be making the move with Bloch, but Hiro says it has a team of 10 on LinkedIn. The acquihire may be aimed at boosting OpenAI’s appeal among OpenClaw users, who tend to favor Claude.
OpenClaw, whose founder OpenAI recently hired, is widely used in automated stock trading. Bloch has built an OpenClaw-based trading agent called RoboBuffett. Following the OpenAI fintech acquisition, Hiro has stopped accepting new customers.
“Starting today, Hiro is no longer accepting new signups. The Hiro product will stop functioning on April 20. 2026. You can export your data from settings on Hiro’s web app until May 13, 2026. After which all personal data will be permanently deleted from our servers,” Hiro Team stated on its website.
Why the Hiro Acquihire Matters for OpenAI
The Hiro deal brings in specialized talent in consumer financial planning to OpenAI. In this field, AI handles financial calculations like budgets, debt repayment strategies, and optimizes savings for users.
To build personal finance AI models that can perform these tasks, OpenAI must take a more tailored approach than general-purpose chat, which is what Hiro offers. Bloch is a serial entrepreneur with a strong track record in fintech and consumer software. He launched a SaaS social media platform, Flowtown, in 2009 and sold it for $5 million.
Bloch later founded Digit, a banking app focused on automated savings. The fintech app was acquired by Oportun in 2021 for more than $200 million.
