Phia, the AI shopping app launched in April 2025 by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, wants to win the AI shopping race.
Phia’s browser extension tool scrapes the internet while you shop, offering alternatives to whatever product you’re looking at, like a similar item at a better price or the same pair of pants available secondhand on Ebay; it’s designed to be a smarter shopping companion. Now, more than a year in, Phia is rolling out new tools that match its bigger ambitions to be a full, soup-to-nuts AI shopping platform. To do so, the duo recruited a laundry list of celebrity angel investors to support their mission — perhaps culminating in one of the lengthiest star rosters ever assembled by a startup.
The line-up 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, Ice Spice, Cait Bailey, Olivia Culpo, Amy Griffin, Lilly Singh, the other Nader sisters (Mary Holland, Grace Ann, and Sarah Jane), The Chainsmokers, Leila Hormozi, Gunna, and Jay Shetty.
All have joined the company’s $35.5 million Series A funding round — first announced as a $35 million round in January, now oversubscribed — which brought Phia’s total funding to $43.5 million at a valuation of $185.5 million. The Series A round was led by Notable Capital, Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, and includes tech stars such as OpenAI’s Charles Porch, Robinhood founder Vladimir Tenev, and Venmo founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail. Phia’s first round counted notable backers Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner, Sheryl Sandberg, and Sara Blakely.
AI shopping apps are becoming a dime a dozen in today’s goldrush. Why do so many backers want a piece of Phia?
“This angel investor cohort is proof that the [AI] consumer shift is real and that Phia reads it best,” says Gates. “The names are evidence. We really thought about two kinds of credibility when bringing people on, either operators and founders who built the last era of consumer tech, or cultural tastemakers who actually are or represent Phia’s consumers.”
After 14 months up and running, the company reports 1.5 million users of its browser extension and app and 9,600 brand partners. Phia makes its money by taking a cut of sales made using its extension, and claims that these purchases have a 50% lower return rate than average. “We wanted to capitalize on that momentum, so we brought on some incredible cultural icons and tastemakers aligned with our thesis: the future of fashion is going to be oriented around taste,” says Kianni.
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