Melinda Gates Urges Daughter to Seek Outside Funding

Melinda French Gates, despite her $30 billion fortune, declined to fund her daughter Phoebe Gates' fashion-tech startup, Phia, insisting that the business attract independent investors to prove its merit. Speaking at the Power of Women's Sports Summit, French Gates explained that genuine entrepreneurial resilience comes from facing rejection and securing outside backing, not parental support. This stance reflects the Gates family's philosophy that their children will inherit less than 1% of the family's wealth and must forge their own paths. Phoebe Gates raised $850,000 in seed funding from external sources, including Soma Capital and angel investors, rather than relying on family money. Both Melinda and Phoebe underscored the particular challenges women, especially young founders, face in accessing venture capital and stressed the importance of grit in entrepreneurship. The decision has been praised as a lesson in self-sufficiency and a push for gender parity in tech.