Bill Gates’ daughter launched a shopping app, called “Phia”
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, both recent Stanford graduates, have co-founded Phia, a fashion technology startup currently aiming to revolutionize sustainable shopping of resale items.
Phia launched on April 24, 2025 operates as a free iOS app and Chrome extension that aggregates prices across over 40,000 retail and secondhand websites according to New York Post, assisting users in finding the best deals on fashion items. The app features a “Should I Buy This?” button, which analyzes market prices to determine if an item is overpriced, typical, or fair, and suggests cheaper alternatives when available and the app also uses AI to harness trends and give users with more options from its database of more than 250 million used items.
Bill Gates expressed relief that his daughter did not seek his financial backing, noting that his involvement might have complicated matters due to expectations and oversight. In an interview with The New York Times, Bill Gates said:
"I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky, and I probably would have been overly nice, but wondered if it was the right thing to do. Luckily, it never happened,"
The idea for Phia emerged from Gates and Kianni’s shared experiences as dedicated resale shoppers seeking better prices. Their mission is to simplify online shopping, making it more affordable and environmentally conscious by promoting secondhand purchases. Phia distinguishes itself from other shopping tools by focusing on fashion and sustainability through thrifting.
Beyond their tech initiative, Gates and Kianni are redefining what it means to be startup founders. They host a podcast called “The Burnouts,” where they share their entrepreneurial journey, highlighting the challenges of building a business from scratch. The podcast, hosted on Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network, targets young women and serves as a marketing tool for Phia.
Despite their high-profile backgrounds—Gates being the daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, and Kianni a prominent climate activist and UN advisor—they are committed to building an independent, impactful enterprise. Gates emphasized the importance of Phia being a stand-alone venture, not reliant on family funding, and focused on delivering a personalized, sustainable shopping experience tailored to modern consumers.
Phia has already raised over half a million dollars from venture capital firms and angel investors, including an initial $100,000 from Soma Capital and a $250,000 Stanford social entrepreneurship grant.
With Phia, Gates and Kianni aim to make sustainable fashion accessible and appealing, particularly to younger generations, as they seek to combat the prevalence of fast fashion.
Their innovative approach combines technology, sustainability, and fashion, positioning Phia as a unique player in the e-commerce world with thousands of other players with same interests and systems.
