Asics Ventures launches Kenzen startup pitch program

Asics Ventures Corporation, the corporate venture arm of Asics based in Kobe, has spent nine years building startup relationships through seven pitch competitions held between 2017 and 2025. In 2026, it has given that body of work a name, a permanent slot on the calendar, and a home:  , an annual program whose inaugural edition will take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Oct. 22.

The announcement reads like housekeeping, a rebrand of something Asics was already doing. But Asics is turning an ad hoc scouting effort into a standing pipeline for the ”Global × Digital” strategy at the center of its Mid Term Plan 2026, at a moment when the plan’s most digital target, reaching 30 million OneASICS members, still looks unfinished.

Nine years of pitches, one name for a long-term program

Asics Ventures was established in 2016 as a corporate venture capital vehicle, and its investment activity has been global and relatively small in scale. Filings and investor databases show roughly 18 to 20 plus positions across 10 countries, including a 2019 stake in Spanish smart textile developer Pyrates Smart Fabrics, a 2020 investment in the health kiosk network Pulse Active Stations Network in Hyderabad, and, more recently, stakes in Pickleball One and Singapore’s Digital Entertainment Asset. Asics has also run pitch events tied to specific partners, including one held with the Saudi Sports for All Federation.

None of that activity had a shared name or a fixed date until now. Kenzen, which means “sound” or “healthy” in Japanese and nods to the founding philosophy Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, folds seven prior editions (2017 to 2025, held in Kobe, Boston, London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Gurgaon and Riyadh) into an eighth, branded one, with an annual theme, an $80,000 prize pool, and a stated goal: a pilot conversation with an Asics business unit for the winner, plus longer term relationships with the Ventures team for the six finalists.

Asics links its startup pipeline to its newest R&D infrastructure

In December 2025, Asics established ASICS Institute of Sport Science America LLC and signed a multiyear research agreement with the University of Michigan, a public research university whose sports science and technology transfer program, Innovation Partnerships, co runs Kenzen alongside sports and health venture firm LEAD.

Four categories that map to the digital growth targets

Kenzen 2026’s theme, New Experiences, splits into four brackets:

• Movement (wearables, nutrition, performance products)

• Physical (retail technology and “third spaces”)

• Digital (community platforms and content channels)

• Wellness (sleep, recovery, preventive health)

Each one lands close to a specific line item Asics has already put a number against. The company’s OneASICS membership platform was targeting an increase from roughly 17.5 million members, per Asics’ own Mid Term Plan 2026 update materials, to 30 million by 2026, with direct to consumer sales targeted at 40 percent or more of revenue.

Kenzen’s Digital and Physical categories, including community platforms, content channels, retail technology and “third spaces,” align closely with the capabilities that could support Asics’ membership and direct to consumer ambitions.