Mark Kvamme (born February 20, 1961) is a

venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

at the firm

Drive Capital Drive Capital is a venture capital firm headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. History Drive Capital was founded in 2013 by Mark Kvamme and Chris Olsen, both formerly of Sequoia Capital. The firm primarily invests in tech startups outside Silico ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

and a

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

driver.

Business career

Kvamme founded Drive Capital with Chris Olsen in 2013. He currently sits on the board of Aver Informatics, FarmLogs, Clinc,

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

, Gecko Robotics, Muve Health, Physna, and

Udacity Udacity, Inc. is an American for-profit educational organization founded by Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and Mike Sokolsky offering massive open online courses. According to Thrun, the origin of the name Udacity comes from the company's desi ...

. He specializes in innovative technology, healthcare and consumer investments in the Midwest. Before Drive Capital, Kvamme was the interim chief investment officer and president of JobsOhio. Prior to JobsOhio, Kvamme was a partner at

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...

, the chairman and CEO of CKS Group, the director of international marketing at Wyse Technology, president and CEO of International Solutions and a founding member of Apple France. Kvamme formerly worked as state development director in the administration of Ohio Governor

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...

. In 2015, Kvamme donated $500,000 to Kasich's 2016 presidential campaign through the limited liability corporation MMWP12.

Racing career

Kvamme grew up in

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

, but did not pursue a career in it. After competing in off-road truck racing, he moved to sports cars, racing in the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

starting in 2014. In 2017, he placed Third at the Rolex 24hrs of Daytona in the Prototype Challenge class. He also began competing in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA, and finished second in the Platinum Cup Masters championship with two wins (

Barber Motorsports Park Barber Motorsports Park is an multi-purpose racing facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built by George W. Barber, and includes the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. It has been the site of the IndyCar Series' Grand Prix of Alabam ...

and

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (commonly known as "VIR") is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Dan ...

). In late 2019, Kvamme joined

Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the NTT IndyCar Series. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing wit ...

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. ...

program, where he shared the No. 52

Ligier JS P2 The Ligier JS P2 is a racing car designed and built by French manufacturer Onroak Automotive and named in partnership with French former racing driver Guy Ligier. Designed for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) regulations, it is intended as a second ...

with

Cody Ware Cody Shane Ware (born November 7, 1995) is an American professional auto racing driver. A third-generation driver with experience in stock car, sports car, and open-wheel racing, he is the son of NASCAR team owner Rick Ware.Shanghai International Circuit The Shanghai International Circuit () is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Chinese Grand Prix which was hosted from 2004 to 2019 and was scheduled again fro ...

, despite missing qualifying and only having two laps of practice, Ware and Kvamme finished second in the LMPS Am class and 14th overall. Kvamme's team MDK Motorsports was also active in motocross during the early 2000s, and returned to the sport for the 2022 season of the reborn FIM World Supercross Championship.

Personal life

Kvamme is the son of

E. Floyd Kvamme Earl Floyd Kvamme (born 1938) is an American engineer, venture capitalist, and government advisor. Early life The son of Norwegian immigrant parents, Kvamme grew up in Northern California graduating from Jefferson High School of Daly City in 195 ...

, a former entrepreneur and a

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneurs ...

. Apple France was created in 1982; as a "Founding Member", Kvamme was living in France at that time and working for Jean Louis Gassee. Kvamme has a BA from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Motorsports career results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Asian Le Mans Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

*
From Mass Media to Media for the Masses- Mark Kvamme at OMMA Global 2010

GigaOm- Sequoia’s Kvamme: Social Media Marketing Can Replace Advertising

OMMA Global on Mobile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kvamme, Mark Living people American venture capitalists University of California, Berkeley alumni American racing drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Porsche Supercup drivers American chief executives 1961 births 24H Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers EuroInternational drivers European Le Mans Series drivers AF Corse drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers