Rembrand and Whisper World, two in-content advertising companies that place brands into video after it is filmed, have agreed to merge in a largely stock-based deal expected to close in January, Adweek reported on November 2, 2026. The purchase amount was not disclosed in the sources.
The combined company, WRLabs, will be led by Whisper World founder Manav Kapoor as group CEO and co-chair. Omar Tawakol, CEO of Rembrand, will become co-chair. Tawakol said an IPO is "absolutely" on the table and that WRLabs will raise money after the deal closes.
According to the source, the merger brings Rembrand scale. Whisper World's in-content ad business is much larger than Rembrand's, and Tawakol said it will grow the company about fourfold and make its in-content ad business "instantly profitable." The deal also brings a decade of proprietary footage to train Rembrand's models. Whisper World built its business by putting virtual billboards into TV shows across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, using more than 100 visual effects artists editing each scene by hand.
For Whisper World, the source reports, the deal brings technology that can handle far more insertions without new hires, and an entry point into the U.S. through Rembrand's supply partnerships with companies such as Paramount and Hallmark. Kapoor said building that alone would take longer and cost more.
WRLabs will act as the parent company and fund research into AI video editing. Rembrand becomes the technology arm, building VFXAgent, described by the company as a "coding agent for visual effects." Whisper World, Spaceback and MRFactory keep their names.
WRLabs will have about 450 employees in eight countries and work with roughly 3,000 advertisers, and its businesses reach over 2 billion viewers a month, according to the company. Tawakol said the teams will largely keep their current roles and no layoffs are planned.