Puttshack — a mini-golf venture known for its sophisticated ball-tracking and scoring tech — completed a growth capital round of $60 million, led by Promethean Investments. 

There are currently four Puttshack locations with three more planned: 

• Three across the United Kingdom
• Atlanta opened in April, first U.S. location  
• Chicago opens Fall 2021
• Miami comes after Chicago
• Nashville scheduled for 2023

Co-founded in 2018 by Steve and Dave Jolliffe, the twin brothers who created Topgolf, Puttshack offers a bit more than the mini golf you’re used to. It’s also open at night for the 21-and-up crowd.

The mini golf industry’s annual revenue exceeds $1 billion, and Puttshack isn’t the only business making moves.

In 2019, Tiger Woods partnered with PopStroke, an outdoor experience providing golfers with app-based score-keeping and food-and-drink delivery to the course. On Thursday, PopStroke and Woods announced a plan to add seven properties across three states with courses designed with the help of Woods.

Earlier this year, Rory McIlroy partnered with Drive Shack on its tech-driven mini golf brand Puttery, which plans to launch in Dallas and Charlotte this summer.

On top of that, Swingers — a high-end mini golf experience popular in the U.K. — raised $20 million from investment firm Cain International in March.

Also in March: Topgolf completed its merger with Callaway, the latter paying $2.66 billion in stock to acquire the 86% stake it didn’t previously own. Topgolf has added mini golf courses to multiple locations in recent years.

To stream or to sell? That’s the question for NBCUniversal and its regional sports networks. 

The media giant is exploring moving the networks to streaming platform Peacock or selling them off entirely.

The speculation comes after parent company Comcast announced plans to get rid of NBC Sports Network earlier this year, moving the content to USA Network and Peacock. Seven cities and/or regions comprise the network.

Comcast is leaning into Peacock, which played a big part in its Q1 2021 revenue of $27.2 billion — a $600 million spike year-over-year. Peacock has 42 million subscribers now, compared to 33 million in Q4 2020.

Sports have certainly helped Peacock, which expects to spend at least $2 billion on content in its first two years. 

About 1.2 million subscribers transitioned from WWE Network following Peacock’s five-year, $1 billion deal with the WWE — just in time to make WrestleMania 37 the most-viewed live event for the fledgling platform.

At the same time, NBCU’s regional sports networks have seen a steep drop in subscribers — from 190.2 million in 2014 to 145.8 million in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. 

NBCU’s seven regional channels spend over $4 billion each year on rights, per Octagon Sports and Entertainment Network — and had to give out more than $1 billion in rebates when the pandemic halted several leagues.

NBCU says it’s also considering selling the networks to the teams associated with them.

When fantasy sports company Underdog Fantasy raised $10 million last week, the list of high-profile investors included one rapper who has a knack for finding early-stage companies with a huge future.  

Nas joined Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures, Mark Cuban, and Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff in Underdog’s funding round. He’s bought in early on a roster of tech companies that would inspire admiration from almost any venture capitalist.

Through QueensBridge Venture Partners, founded in 2014, Nas made early bets on:

• Dropbox
• Lyft
• Robinhood
• Coinbase

The firm has also made investments in in mattress company Casper, electric vehicle charger Volta Charging, home security system Ring, and streaming service Pluto TV, among others. Amazon bought Ring for $1 billion in 2018 and Viacom bought Pluto TV for $340 million the following year.

Nas’ latest victory came when Coinbase went public with a value of $86 billion. QueensBridge invested in the Series B round when the crypto exchange had a valuation of $143 million. The firm typically invests $100,000 to $500,000 in startups.

As for his latest move: Underdog is looking to make a splash in a fantasy industry dominated by big names like Yahoo, ESPN, DraftKings, and FanDuel. The startup also announced a best-ball-style fantasy football tournament with a $3.5 million prize pool.

Nike’s numbers appear to be sliding in China as consumers boycott international brands that have taken a stand against the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in the country’s Xinjiang region.

Alibaba’s Tmall, China’s largest business-to-consumer e-commerce platform, saw online Nike sales decline 59% year-over-year in April, according to financial services firm Morningstar.

Adidas sales on Tmall were down 78% year-over-year in April , though overall sales in China rose 156% in Q1 2021 as stores reopened.

Chinese competitors are capitalizing on the boycotts. Anta Sports revenue reached $8.5 billion in FY2020 and retail sales increased 25% year-over-year in Q4. 

Li Ning, another Chinese sportswear maker, might be benefitting the most.

• Online sales in April grew 815% year-over-year.
• The company’s fashion arm, China Li Ning, saw Tmall sales jump 419% between April 27 and May 3, compared to the same period in 2020.
• Shares hit a record high in Hong Kong on Friday, climbing 52% since March 24.

Both Anta and Li Ning are reportedly in the running to buy Reebok from adidas. Reebok was acquired for $3.8 billion in 2006 and is now valued at about $1.2 billion.

Morningstar analyst Ivan Su said Chinese consumers’ attitude toward certain American brands is “most likely temporary” and that “consumer boycotts against Nike and adidas will most likely fade over the next months.”