Phoebe Gates, the 23-year-old daughter of Bill Gates, has raised $35.5 million for Phia, an AI-powered shopping app that compares prices across the internet in real time and finds you better deals while you shop.
The app, co-founded with Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni, launched in April 2025 and has already attracted 1.5 million users. It works as a browser extension that runs in the background while you browse online stores. When you look at a product, Phia scans the internet for the same or similar item at a lower price — including secondhand options on platforms like eBay.
What Phia Does
Think of Phia as a smart shopping assistant that never takes a break. You’re looking at a pair of jeans on a retail site? Phia pops up and tells you the same pair is available elsewhere for $30 less. It remembers your preferences over time — your favorite brands, colors, sizes, and price range — and gets smarter about what it recommends.
The app claims its users return items at half the rate of typical online shoppers, because the AI helps you find things you actually want to keep.
The Investor List is Absurd
The funding round drew an unprecedented lineup of celebrity investors. Khloé Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Priyanka Chopra, Sydney Sweeney, Mindy Kaling, Ice Spice, and LVMH’s Alexandre Arnault all invested. So did tech founders from OpenAI, Robinhood, and Venmo.
Previous investors include Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner, Sheryl Sandberg, and Sara Blakely. The round was led by Notable Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins — three of Silicon Valley’s most respected firms.
Why It Matters
Phia represents a new model for consumer startups: combining real AI technology with cultural influence to reach millions of users without traditional advertising. When your investors have a combined social media following of hundreds of millions, customer acquisition becomes a lot cheaper.
The app is free to use and available now on web browsers and mobile devices.
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