American Express announced the acquisition of Hypercard (Hyper), a dynamic startup in the agentic space expense management, co-founded by Cypriot Nikolas Ioannou and in which the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, was an early investor.
As stated in a statement by American Express, in a move that further strengthens its artificial intelligence strategy, American Express moved forward with the acquisition of Hyper, noting that Hyper’s team of AI experts will help American Express continue to build agentic tools and AI-powered solutions that help businesses automate processes and simplify operations.
Hyper, founded in 2022 by Marc Baghadjian and Cypriot Nikolas Ioannou, has focused on transforming expense management from a manual process into more autonomous workflows, successfully developing native AI agents that auto-categorise and file expenses, check them against budget and policy and send reminders that submissions are due.
The acquisition follows the existing collaboration between the two companies, which launched Hypercard in 2024. Rewards American Express, a card with built-in AI-powered expense agents.
“Our customers want smarter, more efficient ways to manage expenses so they can focus on what's next for their business, and AI has the potential to transform the way businesses get things done,” said Raymond Joabar, Group President of Global Commercial Services at American Express. “We’re thrilled to welcome Hyper, a team with deep expertise in designing and deploying AI agents, as we build next-generation AI capabilities into our products and services, including our expense management platform launching later this year.”
“We’re excited to join the team at American Express and work together to help businesses reduce friction in the expense process through AI technology,” said Marc Baghadjian, CEO and Co-Founder of Hyper. “Hyper was founded with the ambition to better automate expenses, and we’re excited to continue this mission as a part of the Amex team.”
The agreement is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions.
Altman's investment and the Cypriot presence
Of particular interest is the fact that Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI had invested in Hyper early on. According to reports, Altman had invested about $2.5 million in the startup, helping it with its early-stage funding.
Hyper's co-founder is Cypriot Nikolas Ioannou, a fact that gives a strong Cypriot imprint to yet another successful international acquisition in the field of artificial intelligence and fintech.
Forbes 30 Under 30
Hyper was founded with the initial goal of redefining the way companies manage corporate expenses, combining personal and corporate card features with automated expense reporting. Over time, the company evolved into a purely AI - driven platform, focusing on agentic workflows.
This progress did not go unnoticed. In 2024, the two co-founders were included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Finance category, confirming Hyper's momentum in the international fintech ecosystem.
(Source: InBusinessNews)
