Melinda French Gates refused to invest in her daughter’s startup. Earlier this year, it faced cookie-stuffing allegations

Earlier this year, Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni’s $185 million startup, Phia, faced allegations of “cookie stuffing,” following a Bloomberg investigation. However, there’s one person who wasn’t involved in the controversy: Gates’s mother, Melinda French Gates, who refused to invest in the business. Last year, French Gates told the audience at E.l.f. Beauty’s Power of Women’s Sports Summit that she wouldn’t fund her daughter’s entrepreneurial endeavor. “She got capitalized not because of my contacts, not because of me,” French Gates said, according to Fortune. “I wouldn’t put money into it,” she added. The outlet added that French Gates saw investor rejection as an opportunity for personal development, something that might not happen if she gave her daughter the funding. “That’s what I told her,” French Gates added. “She’s growing from this.” Phia, the AI-powered shopping platform, was founded by Gates and her Stanford roommate Kianni. It launched in April 2025, nearly two months before French Gates’s comments at the London event. Phia faces high-stakes accusations The recent controversy surrounding Phia has put French Gates’s decision not to invest into the spotlight. A Bloomber…