OpenAI acquires personal finance startup Hiro Finance

Staff Report: PNN

Artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI has acquired personal finance management startup Hiro Finance. The company’s founder Ethan Bloch confirmed the development on Monday, which was later verified by technology media outlets.

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, it has been learned that Hiro Finance will shut down its operations on 20 April, and all user data will be deleted from servers by 13 May. Analysts therefore describe this as an “acqui-hire”, meaning an acquisition mainly for technology and talent.

Founder Ethan Bloch said that the entire Hiro team will join OpenAI. Although the exact number of employees was not mentioned, various sources indicate that the company had around 10 employees.

Founded in 2023, Hiro Finance launched its AI-based financial planning tool only a few months ago. The app analyzed users’ income, expenses, and debt information to present possible financial decision scenarios. It also included features for ensuring financial calculation accuracy.

Ethan Bloch is known as a successful entrepreneur in the tech industry. He previously founded a digital savings platform called Digit, which was sold in 2021 for more than 200 million dollars. Although he has had multiple ventures, not all of them were successful—he himself admitted that many of his early startups failed.

Analysts believe that OpenAI made this move to strengthen AI-based business financial management services. It is still unclear whether the company will develop specialized finance apps in the future.

This acquisition is seen as an important signal in the tech world, where competition in AI-driven financial services may further increase.