Iris & Romeo

A venture capital executive at Nextworld noticed that millennial customers were buying five separate skincare and make-up products for their morning routine and wanted one hybrid product that did all the work. She partnered with a celebrity make-up artist and launched a brand in 2020 to sell it. Abby Cleave had worked at Nextworld Capital investing in consumer brands through the 2010s and observed clean beauty trends before co-founding Iris plus Romeo, with make-up artist Nicky DeRust in 2020. The launch hero product, Best Skin Day's complexion enhancer, combined a tinted moisturiser, sunscreen, serum and complexion glow into one bottle. The specific value proposition was five products collapsed into a single morning step, with the time-saving being marketed as explicitly as the formulation itself.