Magdalena Kala Starts 'Double Down,' A $30M Female-Founded Web3 Consumer Fund

Magdalena "Mags" Kala is a powerhouse. With degrees from Harvard and Stanford under her belt and a decade of experience investing in the consumer space, she's ready for her latest venture.

She has launched Double Down Fund, a consumer-oriented early-stage venture firm focused on mainstream adoption of web3.

Kala believes consumer culture is the best way for web3 to achieve mainstream adoption. That means startups building unique, real utility for mainstream customers aligned with their interests such as sports, music, media, art, fashion, gaming, and more.

While VCs are pouring money into web3, only about 12% of decision makers at VC firms are women. According to Forbes, 65% of firms still do not have a single female partner according to an analysis last year. Not only does Kala serve as the solo female General Partner of Double Down, her resume is also backed by a decade of institutional consumer investing experience at Bain Capital and Pags Group.

The name Double Down is a reflection of Mags’ investing style and her deep, consumer-driven belief in the web3 future. It is also a homage to her first career that taught her most of what she knows about business, risk management, and human nature.

Mags is a self proclaimed lifetime degen – before she began her investing career, Mags was a card counter and a co-founder of an all-female blackjack team that used skill to profitably exploit gender bias of the gaming industry. She is banned from blackjack tables at most properties in Las Vegas.

The fund, based in Miami, has quickly closed $20M in the first month of fundraising; it just closed on the hard cap of $30M, exactly 4 months after initiating the raise. This is an incredible feat for first-time fund manager raising money during the crypto winter.

Double Down's roster of investors include leaders across crypto, tech, and consumer industries including Steve Pagliuca (Bain Capital, Boston Celtics), Chris Dixon & Marc Andreesseen (a16z), Alexis Ohanian (776), Matt Huang & Fred Ehrsam (Paradigm), Kyle Samani (Multicoin), Alex Felix (Coinfund), Paris Hilton, Sara Blakely, Village Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Pritzker Group, and more.

Double Down boasts a diverse investor base with and 30% female LPs and 30% BIPOC LPs.

In the Web3 spirit of transparency - Kala and her team has released her fund's full deck as a series of NFTs on OpenSea, with pages airdropped to LPs in order in which they committed to the fund (Steve Pagliuca with page 1, Alexis Ohanian with page 2, Chris Dixon with page 3)

You can view the full deck here.

Double Down will also be serving insights & actionable advice about all things strategy, marketing, branding, and go-to-market in web3 through its biweekly newsletter, Double Down Dispatch.

Find out more about Double Down Fund by visiting its official website and Twitter.