Bill Gates’ daughter snags $30M for AI startup – Business News
Bill Gates’ youngest daughter has clinched a blockbuster new funding spherical — vaulting her AI-driven procuring startup into one of essentially the most intently watched ventures in tech’s hottest class.
Phoebe Gates is raising $30 million for Phia, the AI procuring agent she cofounded with Stanford classmate Sophia Kianni, based on a pitch deck seen by Bloomberg.
A company spokesperson confirmed the spherical, which is able to worth the New York–based mostly startup at $180 million — a fast bounce simply months after Phia closed its first $8 million seed raise in September.
Bill Gates’ youngest daughter Phoebe Gates has clinched a blockbuster new funding spherical. Getty Images for Kering
The 23-year-old daughter of Bill and Melinda French Gates, who beforehand fessed to harboring anxiousness about her “nepo baby” standing, has constructed Phia into a magnet for celeb and Silicon Valley capital.
Bill Gates and Phoebe Gates are pictured above in New York in June 2022. Getty Images for Kering
The deck reveals backers together with Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner, Sheryl Sandberg and Spanx founder Sara Blakely — a rarified roster for any startup, particularly one which’s much less than a yr outdated.
Bill Gates has not invested, his daughter informed Vogue, although the billionaire Microsoft co-founder has publicly supported the company’s mission .
Phoebe Gates is raising $30 million for Phia, the AI procuring agent she cofounded with Stanford classmate Sophia Kianni. Brian Zak/NY Post
The new spherical shall be led by Notable Capital below managing associate Hans Tung, whose investment historical past contains Anthropic and Airbnb.
Kleiner Perkins may also take part, together with Khosla Ventures below associate Keith Rabois, based on the pitch deck cited by Bloomberg.
Phia is pitching itself because the AI reply to what it calls the chaos of online procuring — a market the place customers lose time searching for offers whereas manufacturers fire adverts on the incorrect people.
The company is building an AI-powered search engine that plugs into Chrome on desktop and Safari on cell.
Phoebe Gates boasts more than half a milion followers on Instagram. @phoebegates/Instagram
Users can search for merchandise, examine costs and observe real-time reductions throughout retailers and resale platforms.
Phia says the instrument has been downloaded 750,000 instances within the eight months by means of November.
Gates and Kianni started engaged on the concept of their Stanford dorm room, they informed Vogue, beginning with a idea for a good tampon earlier than pivoting to fashion tech — a shift that in the end led to their AI procuring engine.
The founders are browsing a wave of investor mania for so-called AI brokers — software program that performs repetitive digital duties mechanically and at scale.
Gates and Kianni started engaged on the concept from their Stanford dorm room. Getty Images for Business of Fashion
Phia’s deck compares the company to Harvey in legal tech, valued at $8 billion; Mercor in HR, which has a $10 billion valuation; and $30 billion Cursor, which develops software program development.
For Phoebe Gates, the daughter of one of the world’s most well-known billionaires, Phia marks a high-stakes, public check of her own entrepreneurial chops.
Phoebe Gates is seen far proper alongside her mom, Melinda French Gates (heart), and sister Jennifer Gates Nassar. Getty Images for Gates Archive
The startup’s momentum follows a three-year dash by means of Stanford, the place she earned a human biology degree in 2024 and deepened her concentrate on girls’s health and international equity.
The Post has sought remark from Phia.
Phoebe is the youngest of three kids to Bill and Melinda Gates, who married in 1994 after assembly at Microsoft. The couple divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
The startup’s momentum follows a three-year dash by means of Stanford, the place she earned a human biology degree in 2024. Getty Images for Global Citizen
The relationship unraveled within the years after Melinda raised considerations about Bill’s conferences with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Bill Gates later referred to as his interactions with Epstein a “mistake that I deeply regret.”
As a end result of their cut up, Melinda Gates give up the Gates Foundation in May of final yr and acquired $12.5 billion for her own separate philanthropic work.
Bill Gates has repeatedly mentioned he’ll depart his kids solely a small portion of his wealth — “less than 1%” — arguing that handing down a huge inheritance wouldn’t be a “favor” to them.
