FuboTV released second-quarter earnings Tuesday, recording $130.9 million in revenue, a 196% increase year-over-year. Total paid subscribers rose 138% to 682,000 and ad revenue jumped 281% to $16.5 million.

On the strength of those numbers, the sports-focused streaming service raised its full-year outlook to $560-$570 million in revenue.

The uptick comes as the 6-year-old company continues to refine its strategy.

• In April, fuboTV acquired exclusive streaming rights to the 2022 World Cup qualifying matches of the South American Football Confederation.
• Last month, fuboTV decided to stop carrying several A+E Networks channels as a “cost-cutting” measure. Last year, it dropped multiple Turner Networks channels in favor of ESPN streaming rights.
• The provider announced its acquisition of online sportsbook Vigotry in January after purchasing Balto Sports in December.

FuboTV plans to launch its own sportsbook by the end of the year, tweeting a first look on Tuesday. In July, it secured market access for the sportsbook in Pennsylvania, adding to access in Indiana, New Jersey, and Iowa.

According to the platform’s shareholder letter, the service foresees a shift back to “aggregation and bundling as the proliferation of SVOD becomes increasingly burdensome and costly for consumers.”

Phil Mickelson may be approaching $1 billion in net worth after the sale of six Arizona golf courses to Arcis Golf.

Lefty sold three private courses and three daily fee courses in the deal. Terms were not disclosed.

Arcis Golf, launched in 2015 by Arcis Equity Partners, operates courses under the Castlegate and Ironbridge brands. Last October, it received a “significant” investment from Atairos.

The company has invested more than $75 million in improvements and operations of its private and daily-fee courses over the last few years.

For Mickelson, the sale — made with his business partner, Steve Loy  — could bring him in the vicinity of the Triple Comma Club.

• The 51-year-old golf legend had $800 million in career off-course earnings prior to this sale, according to Forbes.
• The three-time Masters champion has $94.8 million in career PGA Tour earnings.
• He made $41 million in total earnings in the year ending June 4, placing him 29th among all athletes for the period.

Interest in golf grew during the pandemic, with the PGA Superstore seeing a 55% sales boost in the first half of 2021 compared to 2019. 

However, the industry still saw net closures of 1,645 golf courses from 2005 to earlier this year, with some courses being repurposed for warehouse space and other uses.

Sports tech venture capital funding rocketed to $1.4 billion last year, according to Crunchbase. This year’s sum —  $787 million through early August — is already higher than any year from 2017-2019.

The sports tech sector is estimated to reach $30 billion by 2024.

In May, Chicago-based KB Partners raised $64 million for a sports tech investment fund, with an eventual target of $100 million.

KB, which also invested in 16 sports tech startups through a separate $41 million fund launched in 2018, is just one of many sports tech investment funds and incubator programs that have sprung up in recent years.

• In 2019, investment firm Sapphire launched Sapphire Sport with a $115 million round led by Manchester City owner City Football Group. The fund’s investments include Tonal, Overtime, and Buzzer.
• Last year, Comcast launched a sports tech incubator, providing $50,000 and around $1.7 million in Amazon web credits and other infrastructure assets to each startup.
• In March, leAD and InStudio Ventures partnered to create incubator The Draft with initial funding of $5 million. leAD also partnered with OurCrowd in 2018 to launch the ADvantage fund following a $50 million raise.

The profile of tech startup investors has shifted, with more hedge funds, mutual funds, pensions, and sovereign wealth funds getting in on the action.

Applications were due Monday for companies looking to take advantage of legal mobile sports betting in New York next year. 

FanDuel, BetMGM, DraftKings, Bally’s, the YES Network, Buffalo Bills, New York Yankees, Buffalo Sabres, and NYCFC all teamed up to bid for a mobile sports betting license in New York as a supergroup, according to a document released by state officials.

The consortium of world-renowned brands is the result of a highly coveted New York mobile sports betting market that is estimated to provide more than $500 million in annual revenue to the state, per recently resigned Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Other groups are looking to make a run at New York, too.

• Caesars, PointsBet, BetRivers, WynnBet, and Resorts World have also collectively made a bid, according to The Action Network. 
• Penn National, the owner of Barstool Sportsbook, and Fanatics reportedly teamed up as well. 

For years, New Yorkers have flocked to New Jersey to indulge in sports betting. The Garden State finished with a $6 billion total sports betting handle in 2020, the highest of any state — surpassing Nevada by more than $1.5 billion. 

Now, New York is in a better position to keep its bettors at home once mobile gaming goes live next year.