iWorld
Hotstar appoints Sid Taparia as international business head
MUMBAI: Digital and mobile entertainment platform Hotstar has appointed Sid Taparia to head the company’s international business. In his new position, Taparia will be responsible for building and running Hotstar’s business in international markets.
Taparia has moved to Hotstar from information technology and service company Gelato India, where he served as the country manger for more than a year and a half.
Before joining Gelato India, in 2013, he founded an online platform for pop-culture merchandise company, VoxPop, which he sold to Bioworld Merchandising in 2016.
Taparia is an experienced general manager with a history of working in the consumer, digital and media industries. In a career spanning over 20 years, he has worked with Deutsch bank, McKinsey & Co and The Walt Disney Company.
Taparia holds an MBA in business administration and general management from Harvard Business School.
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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.
