Phia founders talk about how AI will change online shopping
By Sarah Perez | Published: 2025-10-29 12:43:00 | Source: TechCrunch
when ViaCo-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kiani decided to create an AI startup, targeting an area they understood well: online shopping.
The founders, who met at Stanford University when they were randomly selected as roommates, understood e-commerce because they spent hours upon hours trying to find the right items to expand their wardrobe. They realized that AI had the potential to help people discover, shop and buy in new ways. They also recognized that capacity was a market opportunity.
“I felt like there was this giant white space of, like, what should we actually buy, and why doesn’t everyone have a personal shopper in their pocket?” Gates said on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 on Tuesday.
The startup grew out of a study project where it demonstrated its initial demand. But the service wasn’t launched to the public until Phia found product-market fit, Kiani says.
The tool is available as a browser extension and programallows shoppers to compare prices, including prices on used goods, adding a sustainability factor to the shopping experience.
Phia says it integrates with more than 150 user platforms, and has more than 350 million items in its internal search database. Kayani pointed out that purchasing used represents an 80% reduction in carbon footprint, compared to purchasing new. Plus it’s cheaper.
Kayani said the service also helps users understand the value of what they buy. “If you’re looking at a $500 handbag on Phia’s website, you can quickly understand, can you resell this item for $300 or $400? Or, conversely, if it’s a fast fashion piece and you’re buying it for $100, does it resell for just $10? Does it immediately depreciate and lose 90% of its value?”
The startup is also developing an AI-powered shopping advisor that will help users understand value factors like a good deal, or what the retained value of an item is, as well as fashion basics like whether an item will be a good fit based on the user’s previous orders and returns. The Volume Insights feature is currently in beta with a small group of users, the founders said.
The founders used a variety of methods to attract an audience, including an ambassador program, creating their own content around product development, and even starting a podcast.
“Being able to get hundreds of thousands of downloads at a very low cost through podcasting and different distribution methods was really important,” Kiani said.
Additionally, Gates said, sharing the realities of building a startup with their audience helped potential Phia users connect with the founders and their story.
“I think there was a little bit of an ego death that we had to go through,” Gates said. “At first, it’s like I want to look good in all our content.” But if you want people to engage with it, and you want to create content at the scale we need, you have to be able to pull back the curtain.”
Gates, who is his father Yes, that Jetsadmits they came to the startup experience from a privileged position, but says they don’t necessarily go to him for advice.
“So, while my dad — I think he’s a genius — he’s not the person who shops at Via, right? He doesn’t look for the best deals across different sites. He doesn’t compare his bucket list items for his spring break trip,” she said.
(Tags for translation)Online Shopping
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