NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Phia, the shopping agent launched by co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni in April 2025, announced its $35 million Series A at a $185 million valuation to build the AI alignment layer between brands and consumers. The round was led by Notable Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures and returning investor Kleiner Perkins.
In 10 months since launch, Phia has surpassed 1 million users and partnered with more than 6,200 retail brands, from contemporary labels to luxury fashion houses, representing billions in gross merchandise volume annually. Each month, Phia drives millions of dollars in sales for brands, and has achieved 11x revenue growth since launch. Brands on Phia see 13% higher conversion rates, 30% stronger new customer acquisition, 15% increased average order value, and return rates reduced by more than 50%.
Phia’s signature consumer experience is an AI shopping agent embedded directly within users’ natural shopping flow, providing real-time insights to help users make smarter purchase decisions. Phia’s rapid user growth has been driven by organic founder-led marketing, amassing over 2 million followers and 430+ million views across owned platforms. The next phase for Phia’s users will include individualized rewards, taste-aware recommendations, and community-curated digital closets.
This funding will accelerate Phia’s core AI capabilities which power a personalized shopping agent that ingests billions of new products and processes millions of searches daily. Phia is building high-performance ML infrastructure to surface precise product recommendations that has already reduced search latency by 80% and increased monetized GMV by 40%. The future will include real-time LLM agents that will personalize each user’s shopping experience, delivering richer intelligence that predicts consumer preferences.
“We are a lean, high-agency team focused on building the category-defining AI commerce platform. If you want to execute with velocity and work on hard problems at the intersection of commerce and consumer AI, Phia is the place to do it,” said Sophia Kianni. “This funding allows us to bring in exceptional talent to scale that mission.”
Through a zero-dollar upfront, performance-based model, Phia helps brand partners drive measurable results across the funnel. In the coming months, Phia will expand its partner offering with exclusive dashboards that provide real-time visibility into audience behavior, emerging trends, category positioning, and more.
“We built Phia to be a win for shoppers and brands, helping people discover products they love while enabling brands to build stronger customer relationships. By aligning with real consumer intent and transparent preferences, we help partners acquire high-intent customers who buy with greater confidence and satisfaction,” said Phoebe Gates.
More broadly, the evolution of AI in commerce reflects a broader shift toward investor enthusiasm for consumer AI application platforms. Phia investor Hans Tung, Managing Partner at Notable Capital and a 13-time Forbes Midas List recipient, has backed multiple billion-dollar companies, including Airbnb, Anthropic, and TikTok. He is joined by Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures, a five-time Midas List recipient, and Annie Case, returning investor from Kleiner Perkins.
“Historically, shopping was built for an internet of pages and filters, not one mediated by agents,” said Tung. “Now, AI sits between people and products, and the challenge is no longer access. It is understanding intent, taste, and trust in real time. Phia is building the intelligence layer for that shift.”
With this funding, Phia will build a world-class team and expand its network of brand partners. Strengthened by its owned distribution and proprietary consumer insights, Phia will evolve into the end-to-end shopping agent and discovery platform for the next generation of buyers and brands.
About Phia
Phia is building the AI alignment layer between consumers and brands. With more than 1 million downloads, Phia’s shopping agent translates real-time consumer intent into personalized discovery, powered by product intelligence from a network of 6,200 brands.
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