"I wouldn't put money into it" Melinda French Gates reveals why she refuses to fund daughter’s startup despite $31 billion net worth

Melinda French Gates has revealed efforts she's making to avoid raising a nepo baby. The ex-wife of Bill Gates and longtime philanthropist, with a net worth of $31 billion, said she refused to fund her daughter’s startup. “I have a daughter who just started a business this year,” said French Gates, 60, during a recent talk with tennis legend Billie Jean King during the Power of Women’s Sports Summit. “She got capitalized, not because of my contacts, not because of me. I wouldn’t put money into it.” The mom did not name the daughter, but Phoebe Gates, the youngest of her three children with the Microsoft founder, recently launched an AI-powered fashion app called Phia with her Stanford roommate, Sophia Kianni. The platform compares clothing prices across 40,000 sites to help users find the best deals. “It is very, very hard to get your business funded if you’re a woman,” French Gates said. “And so you do have to learn a bit how to have the courage to play the game and to stick with it.” French Gates has long invested in women’s rights philanthropy, previously serving as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for nearly 25 years.