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Exclusive: Phia, founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, raises $8 million seed round, led by Kle

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Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni turned their Stanford dorm room into a startup lab. 

It’s a time-honored tradition at Stanford, a rite of passage many tech bigwigs have undertaken. Gates and Kianni started as randomly assigned roommates, but soon bonded over their shared love of activism and business. And, like many aspiring Stanford founders before them, they were looking for an idea—pinning up articles in their kitchen, calling potential customers from their floors, and scribbling on a whiteboard. 

One topic kept emerging over and over: clothes, both the ones scattered about their dorm room and what they were looking to buy. Both avid secondhand shoppers, Kianni and Gates realized they did a lot of research before buying anything—and that they weren’t alone. 

“We wanted to create something that could do all of our shopping for us,” said Kianni. “Do it instantly and effortlessly, rather than all the manual price comparison and tab-opening we were doing on our computers.” 

The idea took a minute to take off. They were rejected from one entrepreneurship class, then accepted into another, attracting some early pre-seed funding from Soma Capital and a Stanford professor who liked their pitch. The pitch was an early iteration of what they’re doing now: In 2023, Gates and Kianni moved to New York to start Phia, an AI-driven shopping agent. Phia—an app and mobile browser extension—launched in April 2025, and has since reached 500,000 users and more than 5,000 direct brand partners. (Kianni and Gates also have their own podcast, The Burnouts, via Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network, launched in April.)

“During the time we were building the MVP [minimum viable product], we ended up going out and—even though it was awful—giving it to about 500 different users,” said Gates (who, yes, is the daughter of Bill and Melinda). “The stats we were seeing were incredible, huge repeat purchase rates, retention was huge. Mind you, at the time Phia was not perfect… But I remember there was one day we took the MVP down, because it wasn’t working the way we wanted. And people reached out: ‘Where’s Phia?’”

Phia, a portmanteau of both Kianni and Gates’ first names, has now raised $8 million in seed funding, Fortune has exclusively learned. Kleiner Perkins led the round. It’s a star-studded affair, with participation from Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner, Sheryl Sandberg, Spanx’s Sara Blakely, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, and eBay Ventures, among others. To Kleiner Perkins partner Annie Case, Phia is building on broader economic and consumer tailwinds. 

“There is a shift towards value,” Case said via email. “American consumers are price selective, deal-driven, and less brand loyal. Phia is meeting the moment.”

The U.S. e-commerce apparel market, as Case points out, is huge, crossing $200 billion this year and heavily skewed towards mobile. Despite the market’s size, the digital shopping experience hasn’t evolved over the last decade as much as you’d think. 

“I think there’s been so little innovation in the shopping space for so long because it seems like ‘well, that’s a hobby for girls,” said Kianni. “The reality is that the fashion industry is worth between $1.7 and $2.5 trillion.”

E-commerce tools have fallen in and out of vogue with VCs over the last few years. It’s a tough market, with lots of unanswered questions about the future. Because shopping on a discretionary level isn’t just personal—it’s sociological and expressive. And often, why we want what we want is mysterious, even to us. But Kianni and Gates are looking for answers in a process that’s about conversation and experimentation. 

“We’re talking to over four users a day,” said Gates. “Every other week, we have 40 young women come to our office who are power users. And we tell them: ‘Roast our app. Tell us what you hate. What do you want to see in the future?’” 

Like that Stanford dorm room, Phia is its own kind of lab. 

“We are scientists,” Gates added. “We need to be consistently running experiments. If users don’t like it, we go back to the drawing board… We ask: Why is that? What can we fix here?”

Term Sheet Podcast…This week, on the Term Sheet Podcast, we have Phia! I spoke with Phoebe, Sophia, and Annie about what’s wrong with online shopping today, how to build a consumer company, why there aren’t more women building companies, and what AI tools can bring to the digital shopping experience. Listen and watch here.

StubHub…Today, StubHub is expected to go public. This marks another long-anticipated public markets debut as the IPO market continues to loosen up. 

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

Venture Deals

– Figure, a San Jose, Calif.-based autonomous robot developer, raised $1 billion in Series C funding. Parkway Venture Capital led the round and was joined by Brookfield Asset Management, NVIDIA, Macquarie Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, Tamarack Global, LG Technology Ventures, Salesforce, T-Mobile Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures.

– Dyna Robotics, a Redwood City, Calif.-based developer of general-purpose robots, raised $120 million in Series A funding. Robostrategy, CRV, and First Round Capital led the round and was joined by Salesforce Ventures, NVentures, and others.

– Chestnut Carbon, a New York City-based developer of nature-based carbon credits, raised $90 million in additional Series B funding from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

– PassiveLogic, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based developer of physical AI technology for buildings, raised $74 million in Series C funding. noa led the round and was joined by Prologis Ventures, Johnson Controls, and PSP Growth.

– Luminary Cloud, a San Mateo, Calif.-based physics AI platform for engineering teams, raised $72 million in funding. N47 led the round and was joined by Sutter Hill Ventures and NVentures.

– Dualitas, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based developer of novel antibody therapies for immunology and inflammation, raised $65 million in Series A funding. Versant Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA led the round and were joined by SV Health Investors and others.

– CodeRabbit, a San Francisco-based AI code review platform, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Nventures and others.

– Vega, a Tel Aviv, Israel and New York City-based security operations platform, raised $65 million across seed and Series A rounds from Accel, Cyberstarts, Redpoint, and CRV. 

– AllRock Bio, a Natick, Mass.-based developer of therapies for cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases, raised $50 million in Series A funding. Versant Ventures and Westlake Bio Partners.

– Nory, a London, U.K.-based AI-powered restaurant management system, raised $37 million in Series B funding. Kinnevik led the round and was joined by Accel and existing investors.

– Stablecore, a Dallas, Texas-based platform designed for regional banks and credit unions to offer stablecoins, raised $20 million in funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Coinbase Ventures, Curql, BankTech Ventures, Bank of Utah and others.

– Envive AI, a Seattle, Wash.-based AI platform for retail brands, raised $15 million in Series A funding. FuseVC led the round and was joined by Point72 Ventures.

– MetalBear, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of the open source Kubernetes development solution mirrord, raised $12.5 million in seed funding. TLV Partners led the round and was joined by TQ Ventures, MTF, and Netz Capital.

– Plumerai, a London, U.K. and Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based developer of an on-device AI for cameras, raised $8.7 million in Series A funding. Partech and OTB Ventures led the round and were joined by Acclimate Ventures and existing investors.

– Iris Finance, a Chicago, Ill.-based AI-powered profit planning platform for consumer brands, raised $6.2 million in seed funding. Glasswing Ventures led the round and was joined by Founder Collective, Hyde Park Angels, and others.

– Overmind, a London, U.K.-based predictive change intelligence company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Renegade Partners led the round and was joined by Four Rivers, Operator Collective, Dan Scheinman, and Walter Kortschak.

– Nestimate, a Lincoln, Neb.-based retirement income solutions platform, raised $3 million in funding. S3 Ventures led the round and was joined by PruVen Capital, TIAA Ventures, and Invest Nebraska.

– Time Atlas Labs, a Helsinki, Finland-based app that automatically tracks exercise activities, raised €1.8 million ($2.1 million). Lifeline Ventures led the round. 

Private Equity

– GHO Capital Partners agreed to acquire Scientist.com, a Solana Beach, Calif.-based life sciences research and development procurement platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Momentum, a portfolio company of CORE Industrial Partners, acquired Superior Lithographics, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based provider of folding cartons, corrugated top sheets, and litho labels. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– PriceShape, a portfolio company of Copilot Capital, acquired Priceindx, a Stockholm, Sweden-based retail pricing platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Spectrum Equity acquired a majority stake in Poppins Payroll, a Boulder, Colo.-based household payroll platform for families and caregivers. Financial terms were not disclosed.



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Female libido pill gets expanded approval for menopause by FDA

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December 15, 2025

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U.S. health officials have expanded approval of a much-debated drug aimed at boosting female libido, saying the once-a-day pill can now be taken by postmenopausal women up to 65 years old.

The announcement Monday from the Food and Drug Administration broadens the drug’s use to older women who have gone through menopause. The pill, Addyi, was first approved 10 years ago for premenopausal women who report emotional stress due to low sex drive.

Addyi, marketed by Sprout Pharmaceuticals, was initially expected to become a blockbuster drug, filling an important niche in women’s health. But the drug came with unpleasant side effects including dizziness and nausea, and it carries a safety warning about the dangers of combining it with alcohol.

The boxed warning cautions that drinking while consuming the pill can cause dangerously low blood pressure and fainting. If patients have several drinks, the label recommends waiting a few hours before taking the drug, or skipping one dose.

Sales of Addyi, which acts on brain chemicals that affect mood and appetite, fell short of Wall Street’s initial expectations. In 2019, the FDA approved a second drug for low female libido, an on-demand injection that acts on a different set of neurological chemicals.

Sprout CEO Cindy Eckert said in a statement the approval “reflects a decade of persistent work with the FDA to fundamentally change how women’s sexual health is understood and prioritized.” The company, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced the FDA update in a press release Monday.

The medical condition for a troublingly low sexual appetite, called hypoactive sexual desire disorder, has been recognized since the 1990s and is thought to affect a significant portion of American women, according to surveys. After the blockbuster success of Viagra for men in the 1990s, drugmakers began pouring money into research and potential therapies for sexual dysfunction in women.

But diagnosing the condition is complicated because of how many factors can affect libido, especially after menopause, when falling hormone levels trigger a number of biological changes and medical symptoms. Doctors are supposed to rule out a number of other issues, including relationship problems, medical conditions, depression and other mental disorders, before prescribing medication.

The diagnosis is not universally accepted, and some psychologists argue that low sex drive should not be considered a medical problem.

The FDA rejected Addyi twice prior to its 2015 approval, citing the drug’s modest effectiveness and worrisome side effects. The approval came after a lobbying campaign by the company and its supporters, Even the Score, which framed the lack of options for female libido as a women’s rights issue.

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This story has been updated to correct the age range of the FDA approval update. The agency approved the drug for postmenopausal women up to age 65, not older than 65.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.



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Gavin Newsom hires former CDC officials to work as public health consultants for state of California

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December 15, 2025

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Two former senior officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including one fired by the Trump administration, will join California as public health consultants, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday.

California joined Washington and Oregon — two other states with Democratic governors — to launch an alliance in September to establish their own public health guidance and vaccine recommendations, as the Trump administration makes sweeping changes to vaccine and health policy.

Susan Monarez was fired as the CDC’s director and Dr. Debra Houry resigned as the agency’s chief medical officer and deputy director over disputes about changes at the agency. The two will work with California’s public health department to help build trust in “science-driven decision-making,” Newsom’s office said.

“By bringing on expert scientific leaders to partner in this launch,” Newsom said in a statement, “we’re strengthening collaboration and laying the groundwork for a modern public health infrastructure that will offer trust and stability in scientific data not just across California, but nationally and globally.”

California has increasingly positioned itself as a counterweight to federal health policy, and Newsom has amped up his criticisms of President Donald Trump and challenged the Republican’s policies in court. The governor’s final term ends in just over a year and he’s gearing up for a possible presidential run in 2028.

California state Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican, said the new initiative is an example of Newsom prioritizing his national political ambitions over the state.

“California has serious problems, and we need serious solutions from a serious leader,” Strickland said in a statement.

The White House and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to emails seeking comment on the hirings.

Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have repeated falsehoods about vaccines, and the administration has given health recommendations this year that experts say were not backed by science.

Trump in September urged pregnant women not to take Tylenol, saying it could pose a risk of autism to their babies, remarks medical experts said were irresponsible. The CDC website was changed last month to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism. A federal vaccine advisory panel voted earlier this month to reverse decades-old guidance recommending that all U.S. babies get immunized against the liver infection hepatitis B on the day they’re born. The vaccine is credited with preventing thousands of illnesses.

Monarez, a former director of a federal biomedical research agency, was named acting director of the CDC in January. Trump later nominated her to to serve as director. She was confirmed by the Senate in July, making her the first nonphysician to serve in the role. But she was fired by the Trump administration in August after less than a month in the post.

Kennedy has said Monarez was fired after she told him she was untrustworthy. But Monarez said that was false in congressional testimony and that she was fired after refusing to endorse new vaccine recommendations that weren’t backed by science.

Houry, who spent more than a decade at the CDC, was among a handful of top officials at the agency who resigned around the time Monarez was fired. Houry said in August she was concerned about the rise of vaccine misinformation during the Trump administration, as well as planned budget cuts, reorganization and firings at the CDC.

She said she’s excited to join California’s new initiative.

“California will advance practical, scalable solutions that strengthen public health within the state and across states —showing how states can modernize data, share capacity, and work together more efficiently, while remaining focused on protecting people and communities,” Houry said in a statement.

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Associated Press writer Trân Nguyễn contributed.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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December 15, 2025

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Dealmakers are heading into the final weeks of 2025 on a $100 billion cliffhanger.

Paramount Skydance Corp.’s hostile bid to snatch Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. from under the nose of Netflix Inc. encapsulates the themes that have shaped a banner year for mergers and acquisitions: renewed desire for transformative tie-ups, massive checks from Wall Street, the flow of Middle East money and US President Donald Trump’s role as both disruptor and dealmaker.

Global transaction values have risen around 40% to about $4.5 trillion this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show, as companies chase ultra-ambitious combinations, emboldened by friendlier regulators. That’s the second-highest tally on record and includes the biggest haul of deals valued at $30 billion or more.

“There’s a sentiment in boardrooms and among CEOs that this is a potential multi-year window where it’s possible to dream big,” said Ben Wallace, co-head of Americas M&A at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “We’re at the beginning of a rate-cutting cycle so there’s anticipation that there will be more liquidity.”

Beyond Netflix’s purchase of Warner Bros., this year’s blockbusters include Union Pacific Corp.’s acquisition of rival railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corp. for more than $80 billion including debt, the record leveraged buyout of video game maker Electronic Arts Inc., and Anglo American Plc’s takeover of Teck Resources Ltd. to reshape global mining. 

“When you look around and you see your peers doing these big deals and taking advantage of the tailwinds, you don’t want to be left out,” said Maggie Flores, partner at law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York. “The regulatory environment is in a position that is very conducive to dealmaking and people are taking advantage of it.”

The tally also shows a level of exuberance in certain pockets that some advisers and analysts worry is unsustainable. Global trade tensions are ongoing, and market observers are increasingly warning of a selloff in the white-hot equity markets that have underpinned the M&A resurgence.

Top executives at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley have all flagged the risk of a correction in the months ahead, in part tied to concerns about an overheated artificial intelligence ecosystem, where huge amounts of investment have juiced technology stocks.

“These equity returns are really coming out of AI, and AI spend is not sustainable,” said Charlie Dupree, global chair of investment banking at JPMorgan. “If that pulls back, then you are going to see a broader market that isn’t really advancing.”

The AI buzz led to some the year’s standout transactions. Sam Altman’s OpenAI took in major investments from the likes of SoftBank Group Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Walt Disney Co., and a consortium led by BlackRock Inc.’s Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to pay $40 billion for Aligned Data Centers. In March, Google parent Alphabet Inc. framed its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz Inc. as a way to provide customers with new safeguards in the AI era.

“Everyone needs to be an AI banker now,” said Wally Cheng, head of global technology M&A at Morgan Stanley. “Just as software began eating the world 15years ago, AI is now eating software. You have to be conversant in AI and understand how it will affect every company.”

The technology sector more broadly has already notched a record year for deals, thanks to a series of big-ticket takeovers across public and private markets. The trend extended to the White House over the summer, when the US government took a roughly 10% stake in Intel Corp. in an unconventional move aimed at reinvigorating the company and boosting domestic chip manufacturing.

It was one of the clearest indications of Trump’s willingness to blur the lines between state and industry and insert himself into M&A situations during his second term, particularly in sectors deemed mission critical. His administration also acquired a stake in rare-earth producer MP Materials Corp. and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has hinted at similar deals in the defense sector.

Trump has separately been positioning himself as kingmaker on high-profile transactions. The government secured a so-called golden share in United States Steel Corp. as a condition for approving its takeover by Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., and the president recently signaled he’ll oppose any acquisition of Warner Bros. that doesn’t include new ownership of CNN.

“The Trump administration’s approach to merger regulation today is markedly different compared to the first time around,” said Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School. Quinn said he couldn’t think of a member of the Republican Party from 15 to 20 years ago who would now believe the US government “is involved in the business of picking winners.”

To be sure, bankers will be wondering if they could have achieved more in 2025 had it not been for the chaotic period earlier in the year, when deals were put on hold after Trump’s trade war hobbled markets. And in a sign that persistent economic challenges are still impacting some parts of M&A, the number of deals being announced globally remains flat.

Many small and mid-cap companies have lagged the broader stock market and are opting to pursue their own strategic plans instead of weighing inorganic options, according to Jake Henry, global co-leader of the M&A practice at consultancy McKinsey & Co.

“They’re thinking ‘I’m better off just operating my business and getting there.’ It has to be an explosive offer for them to come to the table,” he said.

Meanwhile, private equity firms, whose buying and selling is a key barometer for M&A, are still having a harder time offloading certain assets because of valuation gaps with buyers. This has had a knock-on effect on their ability to raise funds and spend on new acquisitions. But bankers are starting to see a recovery here too as interest rates come down and bring more potential acquirers to the table.

“What’s motivating sponsors more than anything is their need to return cash to investors,” said Saba Nazar, chair of global financial sponsors at Bank of America Corp. “We have been in bake-off frenzy for the last couple of months.”

Road to Record

Dealmakers began the year whispering of M&A records under Trump’s pro-business administration. While they will just miss out on the milestone in 2025, there is a strong sense on Wall Street that those early bumps only delayed the inevitable. 

Brian Link, co-head of North America M&A at Citigroup Inc., said that after ‘Liberation Day’ in April, he expected to spend more time figuring out the impact of tariffs on different business and how to adjust around that. 

“That has not been the case,” he said. “Unless fear creeps back into the market, there doesn’t seem to be anything in the near term that’s going to change the dynamic here.”



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