Phoebe Gates seeks distance from family name as Phia hits $185 million valuation
The 23-year-old co-founder says she wants AI shopping app Phia judged on its business, not her parents’ wealth or influence.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Phoebe Gates is trying to build Phia, an AI shopping startup valued at about $185 million, without making her family name the company’s calling card. The 23-year-old co-founder and youngest daughter of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates has raised more than $43 million for the company, Fortune reported.
Gates told Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast in an episode published in February that she wants Phia to succeed with “no ties to my privilege or my last name.” She said she has “a chip on my shoulder” as she tries to show investors that the business can stand on its own.
Phia was founded by Gates and Sophia Kianni, her Stanford University roommate, according to Fortune. The New York-based company offers an AI shopping assistant that works through browser extensions for Chrome and Safari, comparing prices and deals across retail and resale websites in real time.
Fortune reported that the product can, for example, identify lower-priced options for an item a shopper is viewing on a retailer’s website by checking secondhand marketplaces. Gates told Fortune’s Emma Hinchliffe in April 2025 that the company is aiming at young women who want to shop efficiently without spending extra time searching.
Funding and early growth
Phia launched its app in 2025 and drew hundreds of thousands of downloads in its first months, Fortune reported. The company’s valuation rose to about $185 million after a $35 million round led by Notable Capital, with Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures among the participating firms, following an earlier $8 million seed round.
Gates and Kianni developed the idea after testing different startup concepts in their Stanford dorm room, according to Fortune. The company combined Gates’ interest in women’s empowerment with Kianni’s focus on sustainability, Fortune reported.
Gates has not taken funding from her parents for Phia, according to Fortune. She has instead sought outside capital, even as she and Kianni have said some investor conversations have veered into their personal lives.
On the Call Her Daddy podcast in April 2025, Gates said investors have asked what would happen if the two founders had children. She said she once cried after such a question and called her mother, who told her: “Get up or get out the game, sis.”
Affiliate marketing scrutiny
Phia has also faced scrutiny over its browser extension. Bloomberg reported this week that the extension had claimed credit for some online sales it did not generate, a practice known in affiliate marketing as cookie stuffing.
According to Bloomberg, tests across more than 50 websites with Capital One Shopping and independent researcher Ben Edelman found that Phia opened a background tab during checkout and inserted its own referral code, which could override referrals from other publishers. Bloomberg reported that the practice violated many affiliate network rules.
A Phia spokesperson told Bloomberg the company had learned within the previous 24 hours that a recent code release had caused misattributions for some users and said the problem had been fixed. Bloomberg said it tested the extension again after contacting Phia and found it no longer automatically claimed the referral click.
Gates has also spoken about lessons from her father’s career. She told Yahoo Finance that Bill Gates taught her that a strong team sits at the center of building a company.
Her comments came as Bill Gates’ past connections to Jeffrey Epstein drew renewed attention, Fortune reported. Representatives for Bill Gates have repeatedly denied involvement and related accusations, according to Fortune; Phoebe Gates did not comment on those allegations.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.