A Winter Park-based firm started by golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, along with longtime NBC Sports executive Mike McCarley, has raised nearly $15 million.
Why it matters: New documents show a highly publicized golf league spearheaded by notable golfers is tied to Central Florida. Plus, investment rounds by local companies can result in high-tech job creation.
Nexgen Sports Group Inc., which does business as TMRW Sports, on Oct. 18 filed a form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reporting the company raised $14.7 million in equity. Founded in August, TMRW Sports is creating a tech-focused golf league called TGL.
The TGL will consist of six teams of PGA Tour golfers competing in 15 regular-season, Monday night matches. Players, including Woods and McIlroy, will compete on a virtual course. The first season will kick off in 2024, TMRW Sports announced Aug. 24.
The SEC filing lists former NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol as a director at the company. That makes sense, as TMRW Sports in August disclosed Ebersol was one of its initial investors, though TMRW Sports didn’t share how much money Ebersol invested in the company. Ebersol led the creation of "Sunday Night Football" and co-created "Saturday Night Live."
This SEC filing does not show the full breadth of the investment dollars raised by TMRW Sports, per an email from a TMRW Sports spokesperson. “This is a preliminary filing for initial investment,"
TMRW Sports did not provide further comment.
TMRW Sports is led by McCarley, founder and CEO. McCarley spent 21 years working at NBC Sports Group, most recently running Golf Channel in Orlando until 2021. McCarley resides in the Orlando area, per his LinkedIn profile.
The two co-founders are Woods, No. 2 in professional golf history with 15 major championship wins in his career, and McIlroy, currently ranked the second-best golfer in the world.
“TGL is the next evolution within professional golf, and I am committed to helping lead it into the future," Woods said in a prepared statement when TGL was announced. "Embracing technology to create this unique environment gives us the ability to move our sport into primetime on a consistent basis alongside so many of sports’ biggest events."
This isn’t the first project Woods and his TGR Ventures portfolio have been involved with in Central Florida. The portfolio also includes golf entertainment venture PopStroke, which operates two courses at the Waterford Lakes Town Center in Orlando.
Meanwhile, metro Orlando venture capital activity recently took a dive after a blockbuster first half of the year.
Local companies collectively raised $22.6 million last quarter, down 92.9% from $320.7 million in Q2 and down 85.8% compared to $159.9 million in Q3 2021, according to data released by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association on Oct. 13. It was the lowest amount of money invested in local companies in any quarter since Q1 2020.
Last year was a record one for U.S. venture investment, but economic headwinds this year have brought the industry back to earth. For example, venture money invested into companies hit a nine-quarter low in the U.S. in Q3, said Kyle Stanford, PitchBook’s lead VC analyst.
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