Self-made billionaires generally like doing things their own way. Michele Kang is no exception. The South Korea-born but US-educated, the 66-year-old founded healthcare technology firm Cognosante in 2008, before selling the company to Accenture last year. Today, Forbes pegs her wealth at US$1.2 billion – a personal fortune she is now bringing to bear on the world’s most popular sport.
After acquiring National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) franchise Washington Spirit in 2022 – a move which saw her become the first woman of colour to own a team in the competition – Kang brought the multi-club ownership model to the women’s game when she purchased a controlling stake in Olympique Lyonnais Feminin, one of the most successful club sides in Europe. Those two teams now sit alongside English outfit London City Lionesses under Kynisca Sports International, an umbrella company established in 2024 to oversee Kang’s investments in women’s sport.
Collectively, Kang’s acquisitions have positioned her as one of the most prominent investors in the industry and earned her a place among SportsPro’s Ten Influencers of 2025 back in January. But what drew this pioneering, status quo-challenging entrepreneur and philanthropist to sports team ownership in the first place?
“I can’t say I’m like a disciplined private equity [investor],” she reflects now. “Quite frankly, even the [acquisition of the] Washington spirit was by accident.
“When I bought the London City Lionesses, my criteria was one thing, which club is independent? I did not want to do another spinoff, because I just spun off Olympique Lyonnais – it’s very hard, there are a lot of issues and so forth.”
Kang has made no secret of her somewhat unconventional route into sports business.
In countless interviews with media outlets across the globe, she has often characterised her journey into team ownership as a mix of opportunism and serendipity. Yet her story of chance encounters and a personal love for the game is underpinned by an unwavering conviction: that women’s soccer harbours significant untapped growth potential.
Kang has previously said she’s “on a mission to prove that women’s sports is good business”, insisting her investments are serious and that Kynisca, while something of a personal passion project, is by no means a charitable endeavour. Speaking the language of her venture capitalist background, she has repeatedly likened women’s soccer teams to “Silicon Valley startups” owing to their upward trajectory and nascent phase of commercial development – hence why her mindset is more angel investor than hardnosed institutional financier.
“If I were a venture capitalist, I wouldn’t approve what I’m doing as a CEO of a portfolio company,” she laughs, speaking to SportsPro shortly after appearing on stage at SportsPro Live in late April.
“If you think about the venture model in Silicon Valley, when they invested, I don’t know, a million dollars in Google versus Facebook, I have to venture that it was not on the basis of the financial model for the next whatever years. Even if they did, it was all based on nothing anyway. It’s a lot of guts and it’s a lot of belief and it’s a lot of educated guesses.
“The venture capitalists will tell you, if you have one homerun out of ten investments, you’re good, you’re covered. So quite frankly, even the venture model in Silicon Valley is not exactly disciplined. And then especially the founders and CEOs, you believe in these people, they know how to get things done.
“Unless you’re in late-stage private equity, where every penny counts, early venture is, in my opinion, a lot of guts and a futuristic view.”
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