Payments and financial services company PhonePe founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari have acquired the Mumbai Meteors Volleyball team as they make their raid into the world of the Prime Volleyball League(PVL)2022.
Abhijit Bhattacharya, former Indian volleyball team captain is playing the role of the general manager of the Mumbai-based franchise.
Nigam, the CEO of PhonePe said, “As a regular volleyball player myself, I have a great sense of how enthralling the sport can be. And the RuPay PVL gives us a perfect opportunity to build this sport professionally to a world-beating level. I am excited about the opportunity."
PhonePe is a leader in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, accounting for around 47% of monthly volumes. The company also provides services like financial services on its platform including insurance and mutual funds, besides facilitating bill payments and travel bookings.
The first season of the Prime Volleyball League (PVL) will witness 24 games being played as part of the inaugural season, and the second season will start in the early months of the year 2023, which will see 31 games being played.
Sony Sports Network will telecast the tournament after it reached a cumulative television viewership total of 133 million, with the choice of English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam commentary as last year.
PhonePe’s CTO, Chari said that “The Indian sports ecosystem is an exciting place with a lot of room for development, especially in the non-cricket space. The RuPay PVL seems a great opportunity to work and contribute in this space."
Joy Bhattacharya, CEO of the Prime Volleyball League, who has been a driving force behind the league added that “It is exciting to see hugely respected corporate leaders not only showcasing their support to the sport but also backing the business model that we have worked so hard to build."
Bhattacharya stated the advantages of the involvement of such a respected name in the Indian market as he said “I am confident their expertise will help us in further expanding the league to an even wider audience as we go along," Volleyball World, the commercial arm of the global volleyball body, Fédération Internationale de Volley Ball, has joined up with PVL in a multi-year association as the international streaming partner.
