Sophia Kianni Climate activist, founder of Climate Cardinals, and former United Nations advisor. She’s co-founded Phia, an innovative company that promises to revolutionize the way we shop. Earlier this month, Phia announced a successful funding round of $35 million led by Notable Capital. This funding will allow the young company to continue developing its product. In doing so, it will further increase its influence over consumers looking for more tailored and lower-cost shopping options.
Phia’s mission is to make online shopping more exciting than ever before. Their consumer-friendly platform helps consumers easily find lower-cost options to the products they seek. The company initially saw astonishing success, bringing 6,200 retail customers on board. Since then, revenue has surged an extraordinary 11 times. Kianni emphasizes the potential for further expansion, stating, “We are just at such a prime time of opportunity.”
Kianni and her team operate primarily out of their New York office, except during extreme weather conditions such as massive snowstorms. This exciting atmosphere promotes a creative and innovative culture as they strive to be on the cutting edge to develop the consumer experience. She has faith that success will depend on getting the right talent. It’s not just about the number of people on the team. “It’s not even about team size anymore. It’s just about the quality of the talent you’re attracting,” Kianni asserts.
Phia’s strategy is to use artificial intelligence to make every online shopping experience more attentive and individualized. Kianni is particularly disillusioned by how little commerce has evolved in the last three decades. Therein lies the opportunity for change. “Commerce itself for the consumer hasn’t really been adapted in the last 30 years, and the opportunity to make a truly personalized, end-to-end shopping experience is today,” she states.
The company has received a lot of hype and money from some big name investors, including Kris Jenner, Sara Blakely and Sheryl Sandberg. Their support is a clear indication from the market of the confidence in Phia’s mission and our potential for rapid growth within the fast-changing retail environment.
Phia’s service offerings serve to simplify the shopping process by removing cumbersome and time-consuming manual processes. Kianni explains how AI agents can play a crucial role in this transformation: “All this cumbersome, manual work really can become compressed and be able to get you to the shortest path possible to the perfect item.” With sophisticated algorithms, Phia continuously learns and adjusts to optimize for your specific preferences. This allows us to provide you with a shopping experience that is unique to you.
Kianni is the host of a podcast called “The Burnouts,” co-hosted by her fellow co-founder Phoebe Gates. The podcast explores varied issues surrounding inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation. It’s full of practical wisdom informed by their personal journeys creating Phia and charting their course through the corporate landscape.
Phia’s dedication to transparency distinguishes it from conventional e-commerce platforms. Kianni emphasizes that the company is upfront with users about the reasons for requesting permissions and clearly displays all necessary information before engaging with customers. Of course, this is ultimately about building trust and weeding out bad intentions, creating a healthy, positive relationship with users.
Gates shares her enthusiasm about Phia’s potential impact on the industry, stating, “Gone are the days where you would go to a static HTML page that’s not personalized for you, your taste, your sizes, and what you already own that’s in your closet.” She’s passionate about giving consumers a better shopping experience—a more exciting, fun, faster way to shop that adapts to their individual tastes.
As Phia grows and expands, so too does Kianni’s commitment toward improving its platform. She recognizes that, early in Phia’s history, most brand partners had to take a leap of faith by joining when there were not as many proof points. Their belief in the company’s long-term vision has been a real win-win for both sides. Together, they work hand-in-hand to build a more innovative, healthier and convenient shopping environment.