Phia, co-founded by Phoebe Gates, raises $8M

A company co-founded by the daughter of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates has raised $8 million. Phoebe Gates and her former roommate at Stanford University, Sophia Kianni, launched Phia — an AI-driven shopping agent — last April (Phia is a combination of their names). It has since reached 500,000 users. Fortune reports that several celebrities invested in the seed round, including Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner and Sheryl Sandberg. Kleiner Perkins led the round. Gates and Kianni have also launched a podcast, The Burnouts, which has featured guests including Paris Hilton, Jenner and comedian and author Chelsea Handler. The popular podcast has almost 86,000 subscribers.