TikTok Stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio Launch Their Own Venture Fund

Molly Wright

Molly Wright is an intern for dot.LA. She previously edited the London School of Economics' student newspaper in the United Kingdom, interned for The Hollywood Reporter and was the blogging editor for UCLA's Daily Bruin.

TikTok Stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio Launch Their Own Venture Fund
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Sign up for dot.LA's daily newsletterfor the latest news on Southern California's tech, startup and venture capital scene.

You can now count TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D'Amelio among California’s newest—and almost certainly youngest—venture capitalists.


The sisters—aged 17 and 20, respectively—and their parents, Marc and Heidi D’Amelio, have launched their very own venture capital fund called 444 Capital, according to TechCrunch. (The name is meant to allude to the good fortune and positive energy associated with the number 4.) The fund aims to raise $25 million in capital and will place a focus on investments in women- and minority-led startups.

The D’Amelio family is partnering on the fund with Doug Renert of Silicon Valley venture firm Tandem Capital and Jeff Beacher of West Hollywood-based Beacher Media Group. The D’Amelios, Renert and Beacher plan to pool their networks to source deals and co-invest with top VCs in areas including fintech, health care and direct-to-consumer startups, per TechCrunch.

The D’Amelios haven’t wasted time on the new venture, with some of the fund’s $25 million target already raised and allocated. 444 Capital plans to cut checks of approximately $1 million or so per investment, with plans to close about 20 deals this year, TechCrunch noted.

Even before launching their own fund, the D’Amelios have been active in the startup investing arena. Last month, the family took an equity stake in Lightricks, which creates photo- and video-editing apps like Facetune, while Charli D’Amelio has previously backed the likes of teen-targeted banking app Step.

“Our family wants to help a new generation of female and minority entrepreneurs build great companies. We hope to play a growing role in leveling the startup playing field over time,” Charli and Dixie D’Amelio said in a joint statement. The sisters ranked as TikTok’s top-earning content creators last year with a combined $27.5 million in earnings, according to Forbes.

mollywright@dot.la

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

LA-Based Apex Is Tapping Into the Small Satellite Market by Making Buses for Spacecraft

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la

This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

***

Read moreShow less

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

Read moreShow less
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending