Who is Phoebe Gates? Bill Gates' daughter discusses her sustainable shopping app Phia launched with Sophia Kianni on Call Her Daddy

Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe Gates, and her business partner, Sophia Kianni, recently appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast on April 30, 2025. In the interview, they shared details related to their new shopping app Phia. According to People magazine, the application is currently available for download on iOS devices.

Apart from being the co-founder of Phia, as per her LinkedIn profile, Phoebe has previously worked for companies such as British Vogue. In addition, she co-hosts the podcast The Burnouts alongside Kianni.

Phoebe Gates said in the interview that she and Sophia Kianni did not plan to launch a company at first, but were aiming to create a “smart Bluetooth tampon.” She added that although they could not finalize on anything regarding the tampon idea, it motivated the duo to think of another brilliant one.

The entrepreneur claimed that initially, the two came up with the “dumbest ideas,” until one day the roommates realized that they argued over clothes on most occasions.

“It’s kind of bullsh*t that the shopping environment hasn’t developed in the last ten years. Like, how come I’m on a site and I don’t know if I should buy an item or not? Why isn’t AI able to tell me, ‘Hey, this is a good deal, or this is not a good deal?’ Where’s my little shopping assistant? And so we were like, what if we could create a shopping assistant or a shopping hack?” Phoebe Gates commented on coming up with the idea behind Phia.

Phoebe also mentioned that the name of the app emerged out of a combination of her and Sophia’s names, adding that it took a lot of bad ideas before deciding on the current name.

During the duo’s conversation on the podcast, host Alex Cooper questioned Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni on their feelings post-app launch.

“I feel like we just birthed the child that we’ve been like creating for the last year. It feels nuts, I’m like really excited though I’m kind of freaking out a little bit,” Phoebe shared.

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Phoebe Gates’ career: List of experience, Phia, and other details explained

The New York City native’s LinkedIn profile states that Phoebe Gates has actively worked for women’s health and empowerment. She completed her higher studies from the Lakeside School and Stanford University, obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from the latter.

Phoebe’s professional journey began around three years ago when she joined Partners In Health as an intern for a month. She also interned at British Vogue for two months in the same year and started working on the establishment of the digital fashion platform Phia in January 2023.

Earlier this month, Phoebe Gates and her roommate-turned-business partner, Sophia Kianni, launched a new podcast, The Burnouts. According to People magazine, the new show aims to share their journey, which led to the formation of their company, Phia.

People magazine also noted that Phoebe and Sophia’s friendship dates back to the time when they attended Stanford University together. The duo had lots in common, including an interest in activism and a love for fashion, which took a natural turn toward their business venture.

Phia is now accessible to everyone, and apart from the iOS platform, it can also be used on Google Chrome, as per People magazine.

For those who have a habit of online shopping, they need to click on the “Should I Buy This?” option on the Phia browser extension, following which the app will inform them if the price is high or affordable. In case the price is too high, the app would provide better options in the same category.

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Phoebe Gates has appeared at various festivals such as Global Citizen NOW and received the honor of Rising Reproductive Freedom Champion from RFAA last year.