iWorld
Voot Studios, Deutsche Welle renew content partnership
Mumbai: Streaming service Voot’s brand solutions arm Voot Studios has renewed its partnership with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle for a second year. Voot will showcase various content on its platform starting 17 June with Choices.
A seven-episode series starring encouraging mentors such as Padma Shri awardee Sakshi Malik, pathbreaker Prashasti Singh and artistic director Ashley Lobo, ‘Choices – Dare 2 Dream’ will showcase young Indians get challenged by these role models to live their fantasy life for a few days. The series aims to highlight the inspiring journey of these role models who with pure passion have created their own path and pursued their calling outside of societal norms.
“At Voot, it is our constant endeavour to provide our users with content that is diverse in nature while at the same time relevant along with a universal appeal,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures head AVOD (Voot) Chanpreet Arora. “Our partnership with Deutsche Welle, last year, successfully struck a chord with our viewers, thereby helping us to widen our content library and meet the growing content demands. Unique in its concept, Choices successfully captures the increasing aspirations of the millions of ambitious and enterprising Indians who are given an opportunity to live their dreams, away from the notions of age or gender, making it extremely relatable and intriguing for our viewers. We are happy to associate with them and look forward to exploring and deepening this existing relationship once again.”
“It has always been our intent to make our content widely accessible and our partnership with Voot last year provided us with this excellent opportunity,” said DW in Asia distribution manager Daniel Schulz. “We are once again excited to collaborate with them and reach out to India’s diverse audience with our fresh, relevant, engaging and universally appealing content. With shows like Choices, we aim to bring forth stories that deserve to be narrated and manage to strike a chord with viewers on Voot.”
“India has always been a key market offering tremendous opportunities to narrate stories that deserve universal attention. Through Choices, we at DW, aim to showcase content that encourages and inspires viewers to acknowledge and appreciate the tough life of India’s young role models who have excelled in their fields and carved their own path,” said DW distribution representative for India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh Jaya Oberoi. “We are thrilled to launch Choices on Voot and look forward to reaching out to our target audience through a long-term fruitful association.” said Jaya Oberoi, DW Distribution Representative for India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
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.
