e-commerce
Baahubali 2 emerges as highest grossing film on Paytm Movies
MUMBAI: Paytm has announced that the much-awaited Baahubali 2: The Conclusion has been on a record-breaking spree, experiencing strong demand from more than 3500 screens across 520 cities in India – more than any other movie on the platform. The company is expecting sustained demand in the second week, with gross collections likely to cross Rs. 100 crore on Paytm alone.
Baahubali 2 has opened to a great run at the box office and the film is running to houseful shows across the country from day one. With early sales showing an upward trend, Paytm has experienced an eight times surge in overall traffic in the film’s opening week and accounted for more than 30% market share to the Hindi version’s opening weekend. It has also leveraged its massive supply chain of regional theatres, with tier II and tier III theaters accounting for more than 60% of the movie’s overall business.
Paytm’s convenient QR-based offline ticketing systems available at leading theatres across India have also helped ease the rush outside ticket counters. This has enabled the widest range of multiplex and local theaters to offer a quick and easy offline ticketing experience to Baahubali fans across the country.
Baahubali 2 hit the big screen on 28 April 2017. Available in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi, the movie is a sequel to the visual wonder Baahubali – The Beginning. The initial film launched on 10th July 2015 invited tremendous appreciation from the local and international audience.
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.
