$50million launch for Kynisca Innovation Hub’s research into female sports performance
A further $50million now being targeted by innovator Michele Kang
The rise of women’s sport is catalysing investment into research on female physiology.
The businesswoman Michele Kang has announced (Saturday 27 July) the creation and launch of a new non-profit, Kynisca Innovation Hub (KIH), which will use science and data to improve how females at all levels train.
KIH will foster projects focused on women’s health and will advance education, treatments and performance specific to female physiology.
It launches with a $50 million contribution from Kang in combined seed funding and matching funds and is targeting to raise $100 million in total to support its mission.
KIH is an initiative of the also newly-launched Kynisca Sports International Ltd, a global organisation dedicated to women’s sports which will be headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the first global, multi-team women’s football organisation, and its mission is to transform women's football through unprecedented investment, so that it can prove its commercial viability and cultural impact around the world.
Sports science is focused on men
Even as investment in women’s sports grows, little to no resources have been dedicated - until now - to how female athletes are trained.
Currently, only 6% of sports science data is focused exclusively on females.
Through KIH, a global team of world-class scientists, academics, and engineers will prioritize developing and sharing evidence-based, tailored training methods and education for coaches and practitioners.
The organisation aims to create the world's largest database to answer essential questions about female health, wellness and performance. Insights from academic research and leading data analytics centers will inform innovative training protocols that will transform how female athletes at all levels are trained. The KIH suite of solutions will feature four key tools: a consumer app, a coach platform, a data analysis platform, and the KIH website.
Michele Kang, who is the owner of Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and London City Lionesses, said:
“We have only begun to unlock the potential of female athletes. We will understand women’s physiology and biology and train athletes according to supporting data,”
“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.”
Top talent
The input from athletic females is also key to the mission, and KIH has announced the first two athlete ambassadors: World Cup winning soccer player Samantha Mewis and Rachel Ott Chancey, an Active Duty Air Force Colonel of 22 years.
The organisation will be led by Dawn Scott (Executive Director) and Theresa McDonnell (Chief Executive Officer).
Dawn Scott said:
“Having worked as a practitioner in elite women’s sport for over 20 years, this is the first time I have received support of this scale, both in terms of level of investment and, most importantly, understanding the need to focus on training females as females.”
“I am honored to be part of Michele’s vision and excited to be working with our world-leading experts to develop the global blueprint for female athlete support.”
Theresa McDonnell said:
“Michele’s unprecedented commitment to advancing women’s sports is providing the long-needed resources to close the 6% gap and finally develop training methods to optimize female athletic performance.”
“The Innovation Hub results will have a massive global impact on all sports and all levels of play.”
KIH is an initiative of the newly-launched Kynisca Sports International Ltd, global organisation dedicated to women’s sports, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the first global multi-team women’s football organisation, and its mission is to transform women's football through unprecedented investment, so that it can prove its commercial viability and cultural impact around the world.
Investment grows
The launch of KIH follows on from two other initiatives in the last year focused on sport and female performance:
FIFA’s women’s health project which launched in 2023 and brought on board 20 expert advisors to build out information, education and resources on how to support, develop and prepare female players.
Project ACL, which launched in May 2024 and is focused on reducing ACL injuries in female players through consideration of gendered environmental factos.