Mark David Kvamme (born February 20, 1961) is an American

venture capitalist Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

at the firm Drive Capital in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, a

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

driver and team owner of MDK Motorsports.

Business career

Kvamme founded Drive Capital with Chris Olsen in 2013. He currently sits on the board of

Wexner Center for the Arts The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art." The Wexner Center is a lab and public gallery, but not an art museum, as it doe ...

, Aver Informatics, FarmLogs, Clinc,

Funny or Die Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and 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 regular staf ...

, Gecko Robotics, Muve Health, Physna, and

Udacity Udacity, Inc. is an American global for-profit massive open online course provider. It was founded by Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and Mike Sokolsky offering massive open online courses. According to Thrun, the origin of the name Udacity com ...

. 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 Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, specializing in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. the firm had appro ...

, the chairman and CEO of

CKS Group CKS Group was an advertising agency based in Cupertino, California, that catered to technology companies. The initials CKS came from the three name partners, Bill Cleary, Mark Kvamme, and Tom Suiter. All three had previously worked for Apple Comp ...

, 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 and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...

. 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 The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

, 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 (I ...

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 racing facility 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 Alabama since 2010 IndyCar Ser ...

and

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (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 River. VIR hosts ...

). 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, American Flat Track, and National Hot Rod Association, NHRA. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing with R ...

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) 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 s ...

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 secon ...

with

Cody Ware Cody Shane Ware (born November 7, 1995) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 51 and No. 15 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horses for Rick Ware Racing ...

. In their first race at

Shanghai International Circuit The Shanghai International Circuit (), also called the SAIC Shanghai International Circuit () for sponsorship purposes, is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai, China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the ...

, 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, 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 entrepreneur ...

. 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Motorsports career results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

Asian Le Mans Series results

( key) (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 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 Le Mans Cup drivers Racing drivers from San Jose, California Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers Ferrari Competizioni GT drivers