ASU startup KVZ Sports raises venture funding from MAC6 incubator
KVZ Sports, a startup from ASU’s successful Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, has received $160,000 seed funding from the MAC6 incubator. KVZ Sports provides products that are associated with extreme winter sports. Accessories and athletic wear are sold in resorts nation-wide and they are currently developing a number of retail-oriented brands, all to be “Made in America.”
"We are thrilled to be partnering with the MAC6 Incubator team,” said Cynthia Valenzuela, co-founder of KVZ Sports. “Their investment will provide us with the funds to purchase additional equipment and create jobs, which will really drive this business forward. Its great to be aligned with other people who share our core business values and see the potential for growth. It’s good for us and good for Arizona!"
KVZ Sports was founded on a core belief in the competitive advantages of manufacturing in the United States. In an environment where the apparel for sale in this country is predominantly manufactured overseas, KVZ prides itself in producing action sports apparel and accessories locally, and bringing manufacturing efforts back to the United States.
“We invested in KVZ because of their very innovative processes, which will actualize a lot of talk that is going on in this country about competing locally with the norm of off-shore manufacturing,” said Kyle McIntosh, co-founder of MAC6 with the role of Creative Excitant for the initiative. “We believe that Matt and Cynthia and the KVZ team have great potential, not just to compete but to completely transform the industry, creating better products at a faster pace and fair paying jobs in the United States.”
MAC6 is an early stage business incubator that supports the growth of Conscious Capitalism business models in 10,000 square feet of state-of-the-art office space that is in the process of being built in Tempe. Additionally, MAC6 provides angel funding, an intensive mentorship program, and access to elite business community partners.
The MAC6 program advocates capitalism as a force for good and supports the growth of for-profit, early-stage companies with epic, paradigm-shifting ideas through creativity, collaboration, community and change. MAC6 is not industry exclusive and has set up a collaborative environment where many companies doing very different things are working side by side.
KVZ Sports has been supported two years in a row through the ASU Edson student entrepreneur accelerator based in ASU SkySong, the Innovation Center in Scottsdale. The Edson accelerator provides funding, mentoring, and office space that enables students to advance their ventures and is part of the Venture Catalyst. The ASU Venture Catalyst is a strategic unit of ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, the research arm of ASU.