Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe and Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni just closed an $8 million seed round for their fashion comparison app Phia in just three-and-a-half weeks. The lightning-fast funding, led by Kleiner Perkins with celebrity investors like Kris Jenner and Hailey Bieber, signals how Gen Z founders are rewriting startup playbooks with social media-first strategies and powerful network effects.
Phia just pulled off what most startups can only dream of - an $8 million seed round closed in three-and-a-half weeks. But this isn't just another Silicon Valley funding story. It's a masterclass in how Gen Z founders are leveraging social media, celebrity networks, and radical transparency to accelerate startup growth.
Phoebe Gates, 23-year-old daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and her Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni have built what they call 'Google Flights for fashion' - a mobile app and browser extension that searches across 300 million fashion items to help users compare prices. Since launching in April, Phia has already amassed 500,000 users.
'As we think about what the future of fashion is going to be like five years from now, it's all going to be about making access a lot easier to things that people haven't had access to before,' Gates told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview.
The funding round reads like a who's who of business and entertainment. Kleiner Perkins led the round, with participation from reality TV mogul Kris Jenner, model Hailey Bieber, billionaire Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg.
'I got my start in e-commerce, so I've always believed in the power of technology to transform how people shop online,' Rubin said in a statement. 'What excites me about Phia is how Phoebe and Sophia are bringing real innovation to the space by making shopping smarter and using technology to unlock a better experience for everyone.'
But the most striking aspect isn't the star-studded investor list - it's how quickly it all came together. The duo didn't even initiate the fundraising process. Soma Capital cold-messaged Kianni on LinkedIn after hearing about the product, ultimately providing one of the first institutional checks and introducing them to Kleiner Perkins.
'From there, they did end up introducing us to a ton of incredible people,' Kianni explained. 'We ended up both cold outreaching and then also getting other people to connect with us.'
