The Tamesis
Phia, an AI shopping app launched in April 2025 by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, hopes to win the AI shopping competition.
Phia’s browser extension scrapes the internet as you shop and offers alternatives to whatever product you’re looking at, such as a similar item at a better price or the same pair of pants second-hand on Ebay; it’s designed to be a smarter shopping companion. Now, more than a year later, Phia is rolling out new tools to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming a complete, comprehensive AI-powered shopping platform. To that end, the pair recruited a series of celebrity angel investors to back their mission — culminating in perhaps one of the longest star rosters in a startup’s history.
The lineup includes: LVMH scion Alexandre Arnault, Khloé Kardashian, Alix Earle, Mindy Kaling, Karlie Kloss, Eileen Gu, Sydney Sweeney, Paris Hilton, Priyanka Chopra, Jessica Alba, Shaboozey, Ashley Graham, Halsey, Wendi Murdoch, Brooks Nader, Chriselle Lim, Sophia Amoruso, Rachel Zoe, Winnie Harlow, Lori Harvey, Ace Spice, Kate Bailey, Olivia Culpo, Amy Griffin, Lilly Singer, the Nader sisters (Mary Holland, Grace Ann and Sarah Jane), The Chainsmokers, Leila Holmoz, Gunnar and Jay Shetty.
All have joined the company’s $35.5 million Series A round (first announced in January and now oversubscribed), which brings Phia’s total funding to $43.5 million, valuing it at $185.5 million. The Series A round of financing was led by Notable Capital, Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from technology stars such as OpenAI’s Charles Porch, Robinhood founder Vladimir Tenev and Venmo founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail. Fia’s first round attracted notable backers such as Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner, Sheryl Sandberg and Sara Blakely.
In today’s gold rush, AI shopping apps have become ubiquitous. Why do so many supporters want a piece of the pie?
“This group of angel investors proves [AI] The consumer shift is real, and Fia reads it best,” Gates said. “These names are proof. We really looked at two kinds of credibility when bringing people on board, either as operators and founders who built the last era of consumer technology, or as cultural tastemakers who actually are or represent Phia consumers. “
After 14 months up and running, the company reports 1.5 million users of its browser extensions and apps and 9,600 brand partners. Phia makes money by taking a cut of sales made using its extensions, and claims return rates on those purchases are 50% lower than average. “We wanted to capitalize on this momentum, so we hired some incredible cultural icons and tastemakers who aligned with our thesis: the future of fashion will be taste-driven,” Chianni said.
