Bill and Melinda French Gates’ youngest daughter, Phoebe Gates, is launching her new startup without any financial backing from her famous parents.
Despite her father’s immense wealth, Phoebe didn’t turn to Bill Gates for funding for her company, Phia, an AI-powered fashion platform that compares prices of new and pre-owned items across a variety of e-commerce sites, according to the Daily Mail.
No Help From Mom
Speaking at the Power of Women’s Sports Summit presented by e.l.f. Beauty, Melinda French Gates confirmed that Phoebe hasn’t asked either parent for investment — and they don’t plan to contribute financially.
“I have a daughter who just started a business this year,” Melinda said. “She got capitalized not because of my contacts, not because of me. I wouldn’t put money into it.”
Phoebe appears to be independent, having received $100,000 from Soma Capital, $250,000 from the Stanford social entrepreneurship grant, and $500,000 in angel investments, a total of $850,000, Daily Mail reported
It is reported that while not cut off, the children will not receive a big inheritance; among the children Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe, each child will get 1 percent of Bill’s $152 billion fortune.
According to Fortune, Melinda’s net worth, after she divorced her husband in May 2021, is $31 billion.
The explanation that Melinda gave at the expo is that she wants her daughter to have real-world experience, facing rejection and persevering through challenges.
Melinda wants her daughter to have a perception that she is running a “real business.”
“It is very, very hard to get your business funded if you’re a woman,” French GateS said. “And so you do have to learn a bit how to have the courage to play the game and to stick with it.”
In addition to being a businesswoman, Phoebe co-hosts a podcast called The Burnouts, produced under Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network, where she explores the mental health challenges of building a startup as young women entrepreneurs.
She is an advocate for women’s health and reproductive rights, having worked with organizations like Reproductive Freedom for All and she has spoken at events like Goalkeepers and Global Citizen Now, according to the Times of India.
Phoebe graduated from Stanford University, but she wanted to drop out to pursue Phia full-time, as discussed in her podcast, according to Business Insider. She got her degree in human biology and a minor in African studies, completing her studies in 2024, just three years, but it was out of pressure from her parents, especially Bill, a Harvard University dropout.
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