Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, two Gen Z founders, have launched their new startup Phia, a price-comparison tool that helps online shoppers find cheaper secondhand listings and answer the question, “should I buy this?” The tool sources information from across popular resale platforms like Depop, Poshmark, and eBay to share other listings and the median price of an item.
Gates, whose family didn’t fund the startup, has been an advocate for reproductive rights and initially considered pursuing women’s health. However, she realized that building Phia with Kianni could be her true career path. The duo met as roommates at Stanford and wanted to work together on a shopping assistant project.
Phia aims to help young women save time while shopping secondhand by providing a comprehensive platform for finding the best deals. Gates explained, “Our target consumer is a young woman who’s hustling. She shops like a genius, but she doesn’t want to waste her time doing it.” The startup has already gained attention from investors and is cohosting a podcast called The Burnouts with Alex Cooper.
Additionally, the Trump administration is gutting the country’s first and largest women’s health study, which has tracked the health of tens of thousands of women for over 30 years. Speaker of the New York City Council Adrienne Adams is also running to become the city’s first female mayor, backed by three big unions and State Attorney General Letitia James.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/04/25/phoebe-gates-sophia-kianni-phia-launch-fashion-shopping-secondhand