The New Golf

PRESENTED BY MODE MOBILE

Thursday time, Future Party. The wildfires are still raging in LA. If anyone in the city is in need of temporary housing, Airbnb has partnered with 211 LA to help. Check for details here.

Stay safe out there, friends.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Tiger Woods Just Wants To Play Inside Now

Former Golf Channel executive Mike McCarley and golf titans Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, in partnership with the PGA, have launched the TMRW Golf League (TGL) — a hybrid digital-physical version of the game that hopes to amp up the entertainment value and appeal to a new generation of players.

The Big Swing: McCarley, Woods, McIlroy, and the PGA have seen TGL as a response to the threat of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, which has been spending big money to attract players from all over the world… even though LIV still hasn’t scored the viewership expected. 

Between the Puts: TGL is a mix between a driving-range simulator and a short-swing game.

• Six teams of four players compete across 15 holes inside a space roughly the size of a football field — the first nine holes are played as triples, while the following six are played as singles (it’s a bit complicated, tbh).

• Players tee off at a massive simulator screen measuring 64-feet tall and 53-feet wide (roughly 24 times the size of a normal simulator).

• Once they get within 50 yards of the hole, the digital game becomes a physical one, as the players then need to compete on a shapeshifting (thanks to motors and turntables) short-game green where players actually chip and put the ball.

• Oh, and each swing is on a 40-second shot clock, so the whole game can be played in under two hours.

Final Hole: TGL teed off Tuesday night at the SoFi Center at Florida’s Palm Beach State College — reactions have been positive so far. That’s great news for the TGL backers, who sense a major vibe shift in how golf is played. An estimated 32.9 million people play at places like Topgolf, compared to the 26.9 million that play on a green. Why? It’s all about convenience, access, and entertainment. Pro golf will always be around, but if TGL can become popular as well, it could be another major revenue source for the PGA… ensuring it beats LIV.

Together with Mode Mobile

This Tech Company Grew 32,481%…

No, it’s not Nvidia.

It’s Mode Mobile, last year’s fastest-growing software company, according to Deloitte.

Mode’s disruptive $martphone has already helped consumers earn and save $325M+ through simple, everyday use. That led to 32,481% revenue growth between 2019 and 2022 and presence in 170+ countries. Turning smartphones from an expense into an income stream, Mode is disrupting the $1 trillion smartphone industry, like Uber did with taxis and Airbnb with hotels.

They’ve just been granted the stock ticker $MODE by the Nasdaq, and you can still invest in their pre-IPO offering at just $0.26/share.

Earn up to 100% bonus shares by investing in Mode now.

Spotify Joins The Video-Streaming Wars

Spotify released its first-ever concert film, Billions Club Live with The Weeknd: A Concert Film, directly on its platform.

The Big Play: The film is a major step in the company becoming a video-streaming competitor that could compete against Netflix and Prime Video for music-driven projects and concert films. Considering its immense reach and engagement, it could already be viewed as a top platform.

Behind the Setlist: After 25 of The Weeknd’s songs crossed a billion streams, the artist and Spotify decided to commemorate the occasion with a one-night exclusive concert free for 1,700 of the artist’s top fans on the platform.

• The result is the 48-minute Billions Club Live with The Weeknd: A Concert Film, which includes the December show, played in an airplane hangar at Santa Monica airport, and a voiceover of the artist talking about his career.

• Of course, the hits were played, including “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” and “Save Your Tears.”

• The film was made available for free in almost every market that Spotify operates in.

Encore: Spotify has been building to this moment for the past year — it introduced music videos on its platform and has rolled out a partner program for video podcasts. With longer-form content now being programmed, don’t be surprised if Spotify tests out a new paid tier to access a slate of exclusive scripted and non-scripted video content.

Fun Fact: The most-streamed song on Spotify is The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” with 4,648,165,127 streams… and counting (yes, we just listened to it again).

Together with Masterworks

Here’s What You Can Do When Your Bank Starts Apologizing

You may have gotten a “sorry” email from your bank, saying that if you had a 5% APY cash account, that privilege is being snatched away.

And with interest rates set to keep sinking… where to pivot?

Now, for a slice of their portfolio, Masterworks’ art investing platform is offering shares to 66,000+ investors — each of their 23 sales has returned a profit to investors.

Here’s a snapshot of three illustrative sales:

• +17.6% net annualized returns

• +17.8% net annualized returns

• +21.5% net annualized returns

You can skip the waitlist here.

^{_{***This content is not intended to provide legal, tax, or investment advice. No money is being solicited or will be accepted until the offering statement for a particular offering has been qualified by the SEC. Offers may be revoked at any time. Contacting Masterworks involves no commitment or obligation. “Net Annualized Return” refers to annualized internal rate of return net of all fees and expenses, calculated from the offering closing date to the date the sale is consummated. For additional information regarding the calculation of IRR for a particular investment in an artwork that has been sold, a reconciliation will be filed as an exhibit to Form 1-U and will be available on the SEC’s website. This communication is sent exclusively from Masterworks and is not endorsed by or affiliated with Bank of America. Masterworks did not contribute to the creation of the linked content. The report is not intended to be regarded as investment advice, an offer, or solicitation of an offer to enter into any Masterworks offering.}}

DEEP DIVES

• Read: Hypebeast interviews Rivian chief design officer Jeff Hammoud about the ethos behind the popular EVs.

• Explore: Bloomberg watches as Chick-fil-A optimizes making lemonade out of lemons with the help of robots.

• Listen: Your Money Briefing explores if new fintech tools can really predict your financial future with algorithms.

60% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Would you visit an underwater habitat if it were open to the public?

“If it was free.”

“Why not? Sounds like fun.”

“Visiting is one thing; permanency is another.”

“Only to recreational-diving levels of difficulty.”

“I was a swimmer growing up, so I’m very comfortable in the ocean, but you won’t catch me deep-sea diving. Too much can go wrong. I’ll stay at the surface — thanks so much.”

“Being claustrophobic and surrounded by water and seeing no exit... nah, I’m good.”

“Too much respect for Mother Nature.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

📺 After just 11 days, Squid Game season 2 has already become Netflix’s second-most popular season of TV with 126.2 million views and counting.

✈️ Speaking of Netflix, the thriller Carry-On, which was released less than a month ago, is already the fifth most-watched movie on the platform with 149.5 million views.

🎞️ Cinephile social-medial platform Letterboxd hit 17 million users — a major jump from just 1.8 million in 2020.

→ Technology

💰 Silicon Valley raked in 57% of all global VC investment last year — about $90 billion.

🏙️ Toyota finished the first construction phase of its Japanese smart city, Woven City.

🖥️ Nvidia is releasing a $3,000 personal AI desktop computer called “Digits.”

→ Creator Economy

📱 Bluesky is now valued at $700 million as it looks to raise new money in a funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.

🛒 Livestream shopping app Whatnot raised $265 million, valuing it at $5 billion.

💸 The “no-buy” movement is taking over TikTok. Is this an actual challenge, or are people just poor?