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Alex Atallah

Investor2× unicorn founder

Co-Founder & CTO at Opensea · Founder at OpenRouter

New York, New York, United States

Writes $100K – $5M checks

FoundedOpensea$13.3B · YCOpenRouter$7.5B

30 Under 30 2022 · Finance

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You →Konstantine · together at OpenSea (2018–2022) →Alex

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About

Alex Atallah has founded two unicorns: OpenSea, the NFT marketplace he started with Devin Finzer in Y Combinator's W18 batch that reached a $13.3 billion valuation, and OpenRouter, the AI model-routing marketplace Stripe agreed to acquire in August 2026 for a reported $7.5 billion — Stripe's largest acquisition ever. Born in Colorado to a Colombian-immigrant father, he studied computer science at Stanford and worked at Palantir before Forbes named him one of the first NFT billionaires in January 2022. He founded OpenRouter in 2023 after his Window AI browser extension convinced him AI would stay multi-model; the company grew from 4 models at launch to 400+ models and 10 million developers in three years.

Invests in

Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsGamingMarketplaces

Beyond investing

Founded
Built Window AI, a browser extension that connects LLMs to the web. Built Wificoin, a hackathon project for wifi sharing that eventually led to OpenSea. Cofounded the fintech startup Apollo.ai, which shut down after four months. Co-founded OpenRouter in early 2023 with Louis Vichy, after building the Window AI browser extension to test whether developers wanted model portability. Co-founded OpenSea with Devin Finzer in 2017; the pair entered Y Combinator's W18 batch with WifiCoin, a wifi-sharing project, before pivoting to an NFT marketplace inspired by CryptoKitties.
Boards
Remained on OpenSea's board after stepping back from day-to-day operations on July 30, 2022.
Communities
Participated in the Lightspeed Summer Program, advised by Jeremy Liew. Started programming young: webmaster for the WOW! Children's Museum in Boulder County at 14, and a data-visualization engineer whose Google Maps trade tool was used by House and Senate committees at 17.
Awards
Won the 'best API integration' award at the 2014 Meteor Hackathon for building Saurus, a word processor with real-time NLP. Named one of the first NFT billionaires by Forbes in January 2022 alongside co-founder Devin Finzer, after OpenSea's $300M Series C at a $13.3B valuation.
Hobbies
Participates in hackathons, building projects like Saurus and Wificoin.
Family
Born in Colorado to a Colombian-immigrant father and an American mother.
More
Led OpenSea Ventures, OpenSea's corporate venture arm, from its launch in February 2022, and handed the CTO role to Nadav Hollander when OpenSea acquired Dharma Labs in January 2022. Agreed to sell OpenRouter to Stripe in August 2026 for a reported $7.5 billion — Stripe's largest acquisition and one of the largest in AI — about three months after a $113M Series B valued the company at $1.3B. Angel investor in roughly a dozen startups, including Lens and W4 Games.

Mentioned above: the Y Combinator mafia → · the OpenSea mafia →

From Alex's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Founder at OpenRouter

Intro paths

→

In turn, Alex can intro founders to OpenRouter's investors below.

OpenRouter's investors · 10

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2026CapitalGSan Francisco · $75M – $100M checks · since 2026Databricks VenturesSan Francisco · since 2026Menlo VenturesSan Francisco · $1M – $20M checks · since 2026Pace CapitalNew York · since 2026Raptor GroupMiami BeachServiceNow VenturesSanta Clara · since 2026Snowflake VenturesMenlo Park · $1M – $20M checks · since 2026Soma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checksTranspose Platform ManagementSan Francisco

Co-founders at OpenRouter

LVLouis Vichy
Louis VichyCo-founder

Co-Founder & CTO at OpenseaYC W18

Intro paths

YC

Alex went through Y Combinator (Winter 2018) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

→

In turn, Alex can intro founders to Opensea's investors below.

Opensea's investors · 44

1confirmationIncline VillageA.Capital VenturesSan Franciscoa16z cryptoMenlo ParkAltimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checksAndreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checksBalaji Srinivasan$10K – $500K checksBlockchain CapitalSan Francisco · $25K – $200K checksBlockchain CoinvestorsSan FranciscoCoatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks · since 2022Coinbase VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $10M checksCollab+CurrencyNew YorkConnect VenturesLos AngelesCraft VenturesSan Francisco · $50K – $50M checks · since 2021Draft Ventures LlcSan FranciscoEQUIAMSan Francisco · $1M – $10M checksFlexcap VenturesDelray BeachFoundation CapitalPalo Alto · $250K – $15M checksFounders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checksgumi Cryptos Capital (gCC)San Mateogumi IncHaun VenturesSilicon Valley · $1M – $100M checksInertia VenturesNew York · $2M checksJefferson CapitalWest Palm BeachJustin “3LAU” BlauKRHMenlo Park · since 2022Kube VCLattice CapitalDover · $500K – $1.5M checks · since 2021Liam HorneNarcissus VenturesParadigmSan Francisco · $1M – $100M checks · since 2022Pascal CapitalSabrina Hahn FundNew YorkSandwith Ventures, LLCSarah SmithMenlo Park · $250K checksScalar CapitalSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2021SparkLabs Global VenturesPalo AltoStandard CryptoStartXPalo Alto · $10K – $1M checksSV AngelSan Francisco · $150K – $20M checksThe Chernin Group (TCG Crypto)Los Angeles · $50K – $5M checksTioga Capital PartnersLondon · $540K – $5M checksV1 VCBoulder · $100K – $300K checksVenture Investment AssociatesPeapackY CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checks · since 2018

Co-founders at Opensea

DFDevin Finzer
Devin FinzerFounder/CEO

Experience

  1. OpenRouterCEO, Co-Foundercurrent2023 — presentNew York, New York, United States
  2. OpenSeaCo-Founder2018 — 2022New York, New York, United States
  3. Whatsgoodly Inc.Chief Technology Officer2016 — 2017Menlo Park, California
  4. ZugataLead Frontend Engineer2015 — 2016Palo Alto, California
  5. Palantir TechnologiesForward Deployed Engineer2012 — 2014Palo Alto, CA
  6. hostess.fm, Inc.Chief Technology Officer2013New York City, NY
  7. Apple Inc.Software Engineer20111 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA
  8. DormlinkCo-Founder2010 — 2011
  9. The Trade PartnershipData Visualization Engineer2010 — 2011
  10. WOW! Children's MuseumWebmaster2007

Skills & more

Product Management5Entrepreneurship9Web Development15iOS development5Product Design2Web Design6User Experience4Cybersecurity1Natural Language Processing3Artificial Intelligence3Start-ups6Front-end Development2
+12 moreCryptographyMobile ApplicationsMachine LearningFunctional ProgrammingCoffeeScriptWebSocketsCloud ComputingUser InterfaceJavaScriptJavaCustomerCentric SellingPython

Languages English · French · Spanish

From Alex's professional profile.

Investments

Board seats

OpenSea

Investor

Helicone

Per curated public sources.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Alex Atallah

OpenRouter CEO: Why Chinese Open Models Are Beating the US | Why Enterprises Fear OpenAI & Anthropic

20VC with Harry Stebbings

OpenRouter: The Only AI Tool You'll Ever Need | Founder Alex Atallah

Limitless with Josh Kale

Fun stories from building OpenRouter and where all this is going

AI Engineer

From OpenSea to OpenRouter: Alex Atallah’s Masterplan for LLMs | Data Driven NYC

The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck

An unfiltered conversation with Alex Atallah, CEO of OpenRouter

Around the Prompt

TRAILER- Alex Atallah- Founder OpenRouter, Co-Founder OpenSea talks decentralized AI

The Thing · youtube.com

6 more appearances

Writing

All posts ↗

Alex Atallah writes about technology and crypto, covering how AI will push software engineers toward scientific thinking, publish/subscribe as a product principle across consumer tech, and the problems with enforcing NFT creator royalties.

Software engineers will become scientists2024-08-07

Argues software engineers must adopt scientific and management skills to stay valuable amid AI, gaining advantage by acquiring non-digital context that AI agents lack.

Pubsub as a product principle2023-01-20

Reframes the publish/subscribe pattern as a consumer-tech innovation principle, illustrated across marketplaces, social media, search engines, Web3, and generative AI.

On NFT royalties2022-11-06

Explains why NFT creator royalties are broken and unenforceable on-chain, discussing OpenSea's filter registry and possible alternative creator business models.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Alex Atallah?
Alex Atallah has founded two unicorns: OpenSea, the NFT marketplace he started with Devin Finzer in Y Combinator's W18 batch that reached a $13.3 billion valuation, and OpenRouter, the AI model-routing marketplace Stripe agreed to acquire in August 2026 for a reported $7.5 billion — Stripe's largest acquisition ever. Born in Colorado to a Colombian-immigrant father, he studied computer science at Stanford and worked at Palantir before Forbes named him one of the first NFT billionaires in January 2022. He founded OpenRouter in 2023 after his Window AI browser extension convinced him AI would stay multi-model; the company grew from 4 models at launch to 400+ models and 10 million developers in three years.
Where does Alex Atallah work?
Alex Atallah is Co-Founder & CTO of Opensea and Co-founder at OpenRouter.
What does Alex Atallah invest in?
Alex Atallah invests in Crypto & Web3, Data & Infrastructure, Developer Tools, Gaming, Marketplaces.
What check size does Alex Atallah write?
Alex Atallah typically writes checks of $100K – $5M.
What companies did Alex Atallah found?
Alex Atallah founded Opensea, OpenRouter.
What boards does Alex Atallah sit on?
Alex Atallah holds tracked board seats at OpenSea.
What companies has Alex Atallah invested in?
Investments tracked here include Helicone.
Where did Alex Atallah go to school?
Alex Atallah studied at Stanford University (Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Computer Science); Y Combinator; University of Oxford (Bing Overseas Study Program, Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism).
What awards has Alex Atallah received?
Won the 'best API integration' award at the 2014 Meteor Hackathon for building Saurus, a word processor with real-time NLP. Named one of the first NFT billionaires by Forbes in January 2022 alongside co-founder Devin Finzer, after OpenSea's $300M Series C at a $13.3B valuation.
What has Alex Atallah written?
Alex Atallah has 3 tracked posts on alexatallah.com, including "Software engineers will become scientists", "Pubsub as a product principle", "On NFT royalties".
What podcasts and interviews feature Alex Atallah?
Tracked appearances include "OpenRouter CEO: Why Chinese Open Models Are Beating the US | Why Enterprises Fear OpenAI & Anthropic", "OpenRouter: The Only AI Tool You'll Ever Need | Founder Alex Atallah", "Fun stories from building OpenRouter and where all this is going", and 9 more.

Founder mafias

Same school

Shared employers