Former ESPN, Singtel and Meta Executive Joyee Biswas Joins Virtualness to Accelerate Sports and Media Momentum

Joyee has an exceptional track record of creating successful partnerships, leveraging next-generation technology and leading initiatives from launch to market leadership

SINGAPORE, Jan. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Virtualness, a mobile-first platform designed to help creators, brands, and the sports, media and entertainment industry navigate the complex world of web3, announced today that Joyee Biswas will join Virtualness as a founding team member, heading Sports and Media partnerships.

Sports and media organizations have been trendsetters over decades. They are amongst the first to leverage next-generation technology, NFTs, digital collectibles and the metaverse to engage and entertain fans, and unlock new revenue lines. The discussion has moved from “whether” web3 is relevant, to “how” sports and media can benefit from the power of decentralization, blockchain and web3.

Sports fandom cuts through geographies and culture. Two of the top three followed accounts on both Instagram and Facebook are sports stars. Fans passionately follow mainstream sports like Basketball to niche sports like Surfing. They have a strong appetite for customized experiences, ownership and personalized commerce that web3 uniquely enables.

“With 20+ years of leadership experience in top technology, media and telecom corporations, and having scaled businesses across the globe, Joyee has differentiated insights and relationships across IP based industries,” said Kirthiga Reddy and Saurabh Doshi, Co-founders of Virtualness. “Sports and media owners have a huge opportunity to reach tech-savvy, mobile-first and young demographics in newer ways. Joyee is a key hire to fuel Virtualness’ expansion.”

“Kirthiga and Saurabh’s vision of enabling the world’s expressions deeply resonates with me. The early sports win with Philippine Basketball Association is a testimony to their vision and focus on execution,” said Joyee Biswas. “I’m thrilled to join Virtualness as a founding team member, heading Sports and Media.”

“I am delighted that Joyee is joining Virtualness. The founders of Virtualness are an impressive combination. Now, together with Joyee, they make an extremely talented team,” said Peter Hutton, ex-Head of Sports Partnerships Meta, ex-CEO Eurosport. “Over the years I have seen a series of transformations in the sports & gaming industry. Now is the time for another big leap, as we open up the opportunities of the Web3 world. Joyee with his strong sports and media expertise has already helped multiple media businesses in the Asia and Pacific regions grow their digital presence and revenues, and is the ideal person to partner their new journey into Web3.”

Joyee has held the roles of Head of Sports, Singtel; Managing Director Asia, Eleven Sports Network and South East Asia Business Head, ESPN. Joyee most recently served as Meta’s Head of Sports and Media Partnerships for Asia-Pacific. Alongwith building audience and revenue growth for partners across Instagram and Facebook, he drove virtual reality and metaverse adoption. Joyee holds a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from BIT Mesra and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from IIM, Calcutta.

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