PhonePe’s co-founders join Prime Volleyball League, acquire the Mumbai franchise

Indian digital payments company PhonePe’s co-founders, Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, have invested an undisclosed amount in the RuPay Prime Volleyball League (PVL) and have acquired the eighth franchise of the league- the Mumbai Meteors. 
 
In the PVL, the franchise owners are also the stakeholders of the league. And as part of this development, former Indian national volleyball team's captain, Abhijit Bhattacharya, has come on board as the General Manager of the franchise. 
 
Joy Bhattacharya, CEO of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League said, “We are delighted to have Sameer and Rahul on board with us as franchise owners as the league continues to grow bigger and better. 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 added that he is confident the co-founders’ expertise will help in further expanding the league to an even wider audience in the coming times.
 
The second edition of this league is slated to commence in the early part of 2023. The commercial arm of the global volleyball body, Fédération Internationale de Volley Ball, Volleyball World has partnered with RPVL for the upcoming edition to come on board as the international streaming partner. While season one saw 24 games being played which garnered an overall television viewership of 133 million, season two is expected to host 31 games. 
 
The franchise league is powered by the Indian online rummy platform, A23, and is co-promoted and marketed by sports marketing agency, Baseline Ventures.
 
PhonePe was founded in December 2015 and has around 400 million registered users. The company also claims that it has successfully digitised more than 30 million offline merchants spread across Tier 2,3,4 and beyond, covering 99 per cent of pin codes in India.