e-commerce
Jabong founders invest $2 million in laundry services start-up Wassup
MUMBAI: Chennai based on-demand convenience brand Wassup, has raised $2 million from Jabong founders Arun Chandra and Praveen Sinha.
Wassup, which is co-founded by Balachandar.R and Durga Das, will continue to offer on-demand expediency services as well as expand focus on marketing and customer acquisition activities in Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi and also add two more cities Pune and Cochin to their market presence.
The brand currently offers services like laundry, dry cleaning, shoes and bag refurbishments in the above mentioned cities. For the consumer’s convenience, the company has about 30 pickup points called “Aggregating Hubs”. The company is adding 30 more hubs in the next 6 months. In the next three years, the brand intends to be in 100 cities with a customer base of 1 million.
Globally, the industry is estimated to be at $9 billion, while the laundry market is estimated to be valued at INR 200,000 crore annually, 95% of which is the unorganized market.
Wassup co-founder and CEO Balachandar R said, “We are looking to service the daily laundry requirements of middle class Indian consumers, which is currently being addressed by a maid servant or by self-wash. The potential to move unorganized offline business to organized online convenience is huge. We are seeing a good opportunity and want to be the market leaders in the segment in India and are happy to have Arun and Praveen onboard with us on this journey to be the leading brand in convenience services. We will be adding additional interesting convenience services in the near future.”
Wassup co-founder and managing director Durga Das, who has 20 years of Silicon Valley experience behind her, added, “Technology is going to be the true enabler, which will foster customer delight. We have built a technology platform that integrates the consumer app, point of sale, tagging and tracking system and the CRM solution. Additionally, we are adding analytics, a marketing performance platform and an efficient logistics management to ensure the customer gets an unrivalled experience in convenience. Mobile is going to be central to our tech development.”
Jabong’s Mohan and Sinha said, “The on-demand convenience industry is revolutionizing commercial behaviour in cities around the world and the growth of the industry in India is exponential given the perennial growth in the per-capita of the country. The consumer behaviour is witnessing a steady change and this is the best time to contribute in the same. We are elated to be a part of this riveting market opportunity like Wassup. It has immense potential to become a catalyst in the evolution of consumer behaviour. We have bestowed our complete trust upon the model and would lend out the desired support to the co-founders for a hindrance-free growth.”
The company’s expansion plans include adding the personal care, home care, car care, pet care and handyman services to their portfolio.
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.
