e-commerce
When love sat down Instamart’s Phools bloom into a viral Valentine
A Bandra bench, two flowers and four million views spark quiet romance.
MUMBAI: Sometimes, romance doesn’t need a script, just a place to sit. This Valentine’s Day, Instamart discovered exactly that with Phools in Love, a public installation in Bandra, Mumbai, where two oversized sunflowers and an ordinary bench quietly stole the spotlight.
The idea was disarmingly simple. Instamart placed the installation in a public space and let people react without prompts or instructions. Couples, families, morning walkers and curious passersby were invited to sit, pause and interpret the moment for themselves. What followed was a stream of unfiltered responses, shy smiles, awkward laughter, tender glances and playful giggles, each moment shaped entirely by those who stumbled into it.
Captured as a digital-first film, Phools in Love struck an immediate chord online. Within 12 hours of release, the video clocked close to 4 million views, fuelled largely by organic sharing across social platforms. Viewers were drawn not by spectacle, but by recognition, the familiarity of understated, almost cinematic intimacy.
The installation leaned into a truth deeply rooted in Indian culture. Romance here has rarely relied on loud declarations. Instead, it thrives in suggestion, a look held a second longer, a shared laugh, a 90s hindi movie frame where two flowers say more than words ever could. In Bandra, those cues played out in real time. A couple in their 60s exchanged surprised smiles. A young pair broke into laughter. Children squealed as parents instinctively reached for their phones. A same-sex couple quietly held hands and leaned into the moment. To an onlooker, it was just two flowers. Everything else was imagined.
Instamart stayed deliberately in the background, acting as the quiet enabler rather than the hero of the scene. Participants were surprised with Valentine’s Day gifts, flowers, chocolates, teddies and small, thoughtful tokens delivered almost as instantly as the emotion itself. The gesture reinforced Instamart’s positioning as the brand that shows up in fleeting moments, especially when love arrives last minute.
“Romance in India has never been about spelling everything out,” said Swiggy head of brand Mayur Hola. “It’s always lived in suggestion, in old Bollywood frames where two flowers could say more than words ever could. With Phools in Love, we wanted to recreate that feeling in the real world and see how people interpret love in their own way.”
The campaign also tapped into a wider Valentine’s buzz around the platform. Instamart recently went viral for its limited-edition bouquets made of chocolates, condoms, protein bars, snacks and flower-shaped hair clutches, a playful nod to the growing appetite for personalised, unconventional gifting.
In a season crowded with grand gestures and loud declarations, Phools in Love stood out by doing the opposite. By letting people project their own stories onto a simple setup, Instamart turned an ordinary bench into a mirror and reminded the internet that sometimes, love only needs a moment to sit down and bloom.
e-commerce
American Express to acquire AI startup Hyper to boost automation
Deal targets expense management as AI reshapes corporate spending tools.
MUMBAI: From receipts to robots, the expense sheet is getting a brain upgrade as American Express moves to bring artificial intelligence into the heart of corporate spending. The company has announced plans to acquire Hyper, a relatively young but fast-rising startup founded in 2022 that builds AI-powered agents capable of organising expenses, generating reports, verifying compliance with budgets and policies, and nudging users with timely reminders. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, underscores a growing shift among financial institutions to automate traditionally manual, time-heavy workflows.
Hyper counts Sam Altman among its backers, adding a layer of Silicon Valley credibility to the acquisition. While financial details remain undisclosed, the strategic intent is clear: deepen automation capabilities and sharpen American Express’s position in the competitive corporate spending ecosystem.
The two companies are not strangers. They previously collaborated in 2024 on a co-branded credit card product, suggesting that the acquisition is less a cold buy and more an extension of an existing relationship. With this move, American Express is effectively bringing that capability in-house, aiming to embed AI directly into its commercial services stack.
Chief executive Stephen Squeri had already signalled the direction of travel in a recent shareholder letter, describing AI as a “structural shift” in how businesses operate. The Hyper acquisition appears to be a direct response to that shift, particularly in expense management, where processes such as approvals, compliance checks and reporting remain ripe for automation.
Alongside the acquisition, the company is also expanding its product suite. A recently launched business credit card offers cashback and benefits at an annual fee of $295, with another card expected later this year moves that complement its broader push into commercial services.
Taken together, the strategy points to a future where managing expenses may require fewer spreadsheets and more algorithms. For American Express, the bet is simple, if businesses are rethinking how work gets done, the tools that power that work need to evolve just as quickly.
