The Future of Golf Is Upon Us
Earlier this month, April 11th-14th, the world renowned 88th edition of the Masters Tournament took place at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Despite golf’s meteoric rise in popularity over the last few years, Scottie Scheffler’s victory was the least-watched Masters editions since 1993 at 9.59M viewers, 3M viewers shy of the 2023 Masters Tournament climax of 12M. However, this world class golf showcase reportedly brought in $150M in gate, merch, and concessions - in addition to its yearly $125M/year TV deal.
With so much cash inflows into the sport, It raises the question: Is golf an attractive industry for investors and innovators? Here are some cold, hard, facts; we’ll let you decide.
PGA Tour fans are 24% more likely to have higher incomes than the general population
The golf economy rivals that of U.S grain farming, driving $101.7B in economic activity
531M rounds of golf were playing in 2023, up 4.2% from 2022
More venture funds forming around investing specifically in golf: EP Golf Ventures
Joint investment fund created by Elysian Park Ventures & PGA Tour
39.6M golfers across the globe with a beginner boom of 3.3M first timers
So, do you think it’s a lucrative industry to build or invest in. Suraj and I think: hell yes.
Weekly Startup Spotlight
If the Masters inspired you to get into golf, check out some of the hottest golf-tech startups that are digitizing the industry:
Noteefy - For those of you that have tried to book tee times at your favorite golf courses nearby, you know how laborious and manual this process can get by constantly refreshing websites and calling into the course operator. With 1 in 9 Americans playing on a golf course in the last year, and 531M+ rounds of golf played in 2023 and increasing every year, golf is booming in popularity and the user experience to find and book tee times is breaking. On the flip-side, ~20% of online tee times booked get canceled & lead to a loss of up to $50K in revenue for course operators. Introducing the savior to golf, Noteefy, the automated tee time assistant that allows courses to create a custom ‘waitlist’ for golfers. Easily integrated into existing course websites, the app allows golfers to put in their desired tee times, receiving a personalized text message when their desired slot or cancellation opens up. With golf being a legacy sport with little tech innovation, this company is absolutely crushing the B2B SaaS business model.
Founders: Jake Gordon, Dathan Wong
Funding: Raised ~$1.5M in a seed round in 2023 led by Phoenix Capital Ventures, and participation from other funds a legendary set of successful angel investors
Whoosh - Historically, golf courses have predominantly been a pen-and-paper business. Everything from hundreds of inbound per day to book tee times to manually scheduling guest experiences to calling golfers for weather-related cancellations, course operators have tried to optimize the heavy operations that golf courses require. Recently named the ‘Best in Golf Technology,’ this company is turning legacy courses into modern software-driven clubs. Working with 100 of the best clubs across the country, Whoosh has identified business pain-points and created a full-stack solution of point-of-sale, cart sale management, tee sheet management, pace of play, guest management, and flexible notifications within the Member Booking Mobile App. Overall, Whoosh saves staff 20+ hours each week! With great success in golf, the team is now moving to disrupt racquets, clubs, and broader hospitality industries.
Founders: Colin Read, Scott Peper
Funding: Raised a $6M Seed round in 2022 led by Craft Ventures with participation from 8VC, Operator Partners, Human Ventures, Bienville Capital, and Alaris Equity Partners
Sports-Tech Market Activity: Investors & Deals
Accelerators
DivInc’s Sports Tech Accelerator announced 10 new startups accepted in their Spring 2024 cohort (April 15th)
The 12-week hybrid program will support sports startups ranging in services such as athlete compensation, scouting automation, fan engagement, and more
Check out these cutting-edge startups here: [DivInc]
Venture Capital
Olympic Gold track medalist Michael Johnson raises more than $30M in first funding round to develop a fan-focused track league set to debut in 2025 (April 24th)
Hired multiple agencies to assist with the league’s development:
Doubleday & Cartwright will help create league and athlete graphic identities
Two Circles will lead the league’s marketing strategy through powerful data analytics
SRK Strategies will lead public relations
Investment was led by PTPA’s Winners Alliance [SP]
TOCA Football, a leading tech-enabled soccer training & entertainment company, raised an undisclosed amount from Chess GOAT Magnus Carlsen (April 25th)
TOCA operates TOCA Soccer, a large network of tech-infused soccer training centers, and TOCA Social, the world’s first soccer-themed entertainment and dining venue
Provides an opportunity for TOCA to bring new users from the chess arena [Business Wire]
Diddo, a developer of an API for streaming services to integrate interactive ads, raised $2.8M in Seed funding (April 24th)
Uses computer vision AI technology to identify products in TV/movies and pulls comparable products at a variety of prices, expanding viewers’ product range
Investment was led by Link Ventures; angel investors participating in the round were Dante D’Angelo, Erica Lockheimer, and Camille Ricketts [TC]
Anichess, a free-to-play chess game that incorporates another layer of strategy through features such as spells & special challenges, raised $1.8M in funding (April 25th)
Developed in partnership with Chess.com and Magnus Carlsen
Investment was led by Sfermion & Amber Group; other investors include Fenbushi Capital, Aspen Digital, SNZ Capital, and more [finSMEs]
FilmChain, a UK-based developer of a financial management software for the global film & TV industries, raised £2.8M in funding (April 21st)
Expanding operations and business reach in North America
Investment was led by Holt IntersXion fund; other investors include Roca X, DeBa Ventures, TechAngels Romania, and HearstLab [finSMEs]
Qlhype, a Milan-based e-commerce platform for buying and selling quality clothes used by celebrities & VIPs, raised €700K in funding from angel investors (April 24th)
Expanding its operations in order to go abroad by 2025
Angel investors include Lacopo Chiarugi, Alessandro Monterosso, and Nicole Fumagalli [finSMEs]
Carv, a modular data layer provider to gaming and AI developers, raised $10M in Series A funding (April 25th)
Investment was led by Tribe Capital & IOSG Ventures; other investors include Consensys, OKX Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, and more [finSMEs]
M&A and Investments
Infinite Reality, a developer of AI-powered Metaverse experiences, acquired Drone Racing League for $250M (April 23rd)
Aiming to usher a new era of sports entertainment fueled by cutting edge tech developed by the combined firms [Sportico]
LiveMode, a São Paulo-based social media content platform for sports organizations, received a minority investment from General Atlantic & XP Private Equity (April 24th)
Accelerating growth in the sports social media market and increasing long-term investments in sports properties [finSMEs]
JD Sports, a blue chip British sportswear retailer, will buy Hibbett, an American athletic sports retailer, for $1.08B (April 23rd)
Extends JD Sports’ business presence in the United States, putting pressure on competitors such as Foot Locker
Expected to generate more than $25M in cost savings [Reuters]
Management & production firm Range Media received a “substantial” minority investment from multiple investors (April 23rd)
Expanding business both domestically & internationally, diversifying its operations, and powering inorganic growth through acquisitions
Investors include Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital, and Playground Productions [HR]
A less than 5% minority stake, related to real estate planning, in MLB team SF Giants is now up for sale (April 25th)
A new buyer of the minority stake will likely value the company at $4B [YF]
Photo Creds: Drone Racing League will now be part of Infinite Reality’s portfolio of assets in the sports & entertainment space.
Strategic Ventures
PGA Tour’s streaming service TOURCAST will implement ShotLink Select technology, providing players and fans comparative data and statistics on player performance at the upcoming Korn Ferry Tour (April 19th)
Partnership will also provide 3D insights on every shot made at the tournament [PGA Tour]
Leading radio broadcaster Audacy is launching a premium audio brand Audacy Sports focused purely on sports (April 23rd)
New subsidiary will likely reach 43M monthly listeners across Audacy’s radio stations, podcasts, and other offerings [IMDB]
2K Sports will add new sports gaming titles to their sports game portfolio, including Top Spin 2K25, a new tennis game published this Tuesday (April 24th)
Top Spin series has finally been brought back after 13 years as tennis continues to gain significant traction due to up-and-coming stars such as Alcaraz and Sinner [DigiDays]
Apple is close to finalizing TV rights for FIFA’s new month-long club tournament held next year (April 22nd)
The $1B deal will provide Apple a competitive advantage in sports streaming [Reuters]
Tottenham Spurs released a new official app update that includes a match prediction game The Predictor (April 18th)
Allow fans to participate in a match-by-match game, challenging each other on what will happen on each play [Tottenham Spurs]