Michele Kang And Others Back $2 Million Investment With IDA Sports

Since 2018, IDA Sports has been changing the growth of the game by creating soccer cleats that are specifically designed for women.

Washington Spirit owner Michelle Kang along with Firebird Impact, Kynisca, Elysian Park Ventures, and Tipt Ventures recently made a $2 million investment into IDA to continue paving the way for high performance footwear for female athletes in the NWSL and beyond.

Shaping The Future Of Footwear For Female Athletes

As a key figure in the growth of women’s soccer, Kang’s involvement with the Spirit in 2022 has allowed the club to reach new heights in providing more player resources and education opportunities.

With IDA’s mission of providing high quality equipment and access to female players, their products accommodate the needs of players’ feet in a way that hasn’t been done before.

“There is minimal sports science research focused solely on female athletes, resulting in training routines, performance recovery plans and shoe and clothing designs with a male body type as the baseline,” said Kang. “IDA challenges this traditional way of thinking, creating high performance, comfortable footwear for female athletes to maximize potential on the field. Women’s sports should never be an afterthought – they should be recognized as a standalone, commercially viable product and it’s exciting to partner with an innovative brand that shares the same sentiment.”

With the investment, IDA will utilize Kynisca’s support to grow their brand visibility and promote the quality of its products. This process also includes launching a professional player testing initiative to allow female players at the highest level the opportunity to directly shape the future of what they will wear on the field.

As a company that is breaking the barriers of providing equipment tailored to female athletes, IDA’s focus from the beginning is to provide athletes with the products that they not only deserve but ones that can also help maximize their performance in the game.

How Kynisca And IDA Advance The Growth Of The Game

During the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Kang launched Kynisca as the world’s first multi-team, global organization exclusively dedicated to professionalizing women’s sports and proving the industry’s commercial viability through strategic investments in teams and brands around the world.

As IDA is currently the only company in the soccer cleat and turf sports industries that exclusively designs and manufactures footwear for women, the partnership with Kang and Kynisca will only advance the growth of the game as products are being created and distributed with having direct feedback from players.

“I could not think of a better partnership than with Michele Kang and Kynisca, who are also taking a direct approach in addressing the inequities that female athletes face through action and investment,” said IDA Sports Co-Founder and CEO, Laura Youngson. “We are very excited to have Michele’s belief and backing and look forward to continuing to lead the industry in research and design for female players.”

IDA’s model utilizes science and research to customize options for female athletes, who are 4-8 times more likely to sustain ACL injuries. With science-backed designs, their product aims to prevent pain while also reducing the risk of major injuries.

With footwear options from indoor and outdoor cleats, IDA tripled its revenues in 2023 from the previous year and is on track to post another consecutive year with tripled year-over-year revenue growth in 2024.

IDA’s products can be found in leading retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Soccer.com, SCHEELS and Academy Sports & Outdoors.