Bill Gates’ daughter lands US$30 million for star-backed AI firm
The capital raise will value the start-up at US$180 million and comes just months after Phia completed its first US$8 million funding round
Phoebe Gates, daughter of Microsoft’s billionaire founder Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, is raising US$30 million in new funding for Phia, a start-up applying artificial intelligence to online shopping, according to a pitch deck seen by Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed the round.
The capital raise will value the New York-based start-up at US$180 million and comes just months after Phia completed its first US$8 million funding round in September.
Phia, which Gates co-founded with Sophia Kianni, is backed by a constellation of celebrities including model and businesswoman Hailey Bieber, Kardashian family matriarch Kris Jenner, former Meta Platforms Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, and Spanx founder Sara Blakely.
Bill Gates has not invested, Phoebe Gates told Vogue, but has publicly supported the start-up.
The round will be led by venture capital firm Notable Capital, under managing partner Hans Tung, whose earlier investments include Anthropic and Airbnb. Investor Kleiner Perkins is also participating, alongside Khosla Ventures under partner Keith Rabois.