tech
January 27, 2026
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni’s Phia raises $35M to ‘make shopping fun again’
“We’re on the cusp of a completely new way of shopping,” Gates told TechCrunch.
TL;DR
- Phia, an AI shopping agent startup, has raised $35 million in new funding.
- The company focuses on creating personalized, end-to-end shopping experiences.
- Phia helps users save money by suggesting second-hand alternatives and less expensive brands.
- The startup has achieved significant revenue growth and onboarded numerous retail partners.
- Founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni leverage their social media presence for marketing.
- The company plans to use the funding to hire machine learning engineers.
- Phia experienced a past cybersecurity issue with its browser extension but states data is aggregated and anonymous.