When Arjuna and Krishna arrived at Khandava forest Kanva Maharishi approached them with a request to spare his Arca moorthy(a four handed idol of Vishnu) Krishna grand the request.
Some major Achrayas who belong to Kanva Shakha are Sureshvaracharya(Mandana Mishra) who was disciple of Shankaracharya and Madhvacharya founder of Dwaita Siddahanta , great Dattareya avatar of Akkalkot Swami Samarth was born in Kanva Shakha.
Vasudeva Kanva (75–66 BCE) was the founder of the Kanva dynasty.