Phoebe Gates is carving her own path in the startup world by keeping her last name out of investor presentations. The 23-year-old Stanford graduate has co-founded AI-powered shopping platform Phia and insists the company must stand on its own merit.
Speaking on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast, Phoebe said, “I have a chip on my shoulder. No ties to my privilege or my last name.” She emphasized that her goal is to prove the business independently, without leveraging her family background.
Phoebe launched Phia with her Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni. The platform is an AI-driven shopping assistant that helps users find better deals by comparing prices across retail and resale sites in realtime. Since its launch in 2025, the app has attracted hundreds of thousands of downloads.
Phia recently raised $35 million in a funding round led by Notable Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures. The startup is now valued at $185 million. According to Fortune, Phoebe described the target audience as “Young women who hustle.”
Despite being the daughter of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and philanthropist Melinda French Gates, Phoebe has chosen not to take financial support from her parents. Instead, she has focused on raising external capital and navigating investor discussions on her own. She revealed on the Call Her Daddy podcast that some meetings included personal questions about her future family plans. “I called my mom crying,” she said. “She said, ‘Get up or get out the game, sis.’”
Phoebe acknowledges her father’s advice, particularly on the importance of building a strong team. However, she maintains that Phia is not a legacy project. “The chip on my shoulder is not only proving myself,” she said, “but building something novel and unique that consumers actually love.”
Although Bill Gates has not invested financially, he has supported the venture with guidance and visibility. After Phia’s 2025 launch, he posted on LinkedIn, stating: “I’ve entered the startup world again.”
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