(Bloomberg) -- Michele Kang, owner of the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and London City Lionesses soccer teams, is going all in on women’s sports.
Kang said she’ll contribute $50 million in combined seed funding and matching contributions to Kynisca Innovation Hub, a new non-profit organization that says it wants to “unlock female athletic potential” through training methods and education.
The entity, unveiled by Kang at an event in Paris on Saturday, aims to raise $100 million. It was inspired by President Joe Biden’s executive order from March on advancing women’s health research and innovation, she said.
Kynisca, named after the ancient Greek athlete thought to be the first female winner of Olympic chariot races as a horse breeder and owner, estimates that only 6% of sports science data is focused exclusively on females.
“We will understand women’s physiology and biology and train athletes according to supporting data,” Kang said in a statement. “Kynisca Innovation Hub will become a pioneer of female performance research, so we can stop training women as if they are simply small men and unlock their true potential.”
Kang’s three women’s soccer teams are affiliated with Kynisca Sports International Ltd., a London-based company which says its mission is to “transform women’s football through unprecedented investment, proving its commercial viability and cultural impact around the world.”
Kang founded the technology company Cognosante, which was acquired in May by Accenture Federal Services. Away from women’s sports, she was part of a consortium led by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein that this year assumed ownership of Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles.
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