Iris&Romeo Brings Skin-friendly Cosmetics to Sephora, Secures Series A Funding

San Francisco-based clean, multifunctional beauty brand Iris&Romeo is expanding into Sephora.com on December 26, 2023 and has received series A funding from True Beauty Ventures. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. 

Among the brand's offerings at the retailer will be the Weekend Skin SPF 50 and Best Skin Days. The brand's multifunctional products align with the boom in skin-friendly color cosmetics and makeup-skin care hybrids.

The retail expansion follows Iris&Romeo's February 2023 nationwide launch at Credo.

The investment will support the brand's resiliency as it scales up to meet its Sephora partnership responsibilities, particularly supply chain, brand-first content and key hires.

Founded in 2019, Iris&Romeo "experienced triple digit growth" in 2022 and, for full-year 2023, previously forecast "a triple digit sales increase YoY accelerated by direct-to-consumer and retail expansion," per a February 2023 company announcement.

Previous investors in the brand included BrandProject and Newbound Ventures.

"Launching at Sephora is a pivotal moment for our brand. It gives us an opportunity to tell our story on a bigger level and for a whole new group of customers to try our products and fall in love," said Michele Gough-Baril, the brand's founder. "For me, personally, it's a dream come true moment because I've worked with Sephora for many years on other brands, and to do it now with the brand I founded is beyond exciting."

"We're thrilled to introduce Iris&Romeo to our clients as a part of our growing clean makeup assortment," said Amy Abrams, VP merchandising, makeup at Sephora. "With its minimalist and simplified approach to beauty, Iris&Romeo offers multi-use products that are clean, high-performing, and seek to improve skin's wellness with every wear. We look forward to introducing this innovative brand to our Sephora community and know that it will be a great addition to our assortment."

"We are thrilled to bring on True Beauty Ventures as our series A lead," said Iris&Romeo's CEO, Tara Desai. "Rich and Cristina's expertise in the early stage beauty space is unparalleled. Having Cristina on our board will be incredibly valuable as we scale. This Series A funding will unlock the brand's ability to reach more consumers. Our existing customer base is exceptionally loyal. Strengthening our ability to reach her in more places will accelerate our growth, especially within our 35+ demographic." Tara Desai joined Iris&Romeo in 2022, after working for brands such as Estee Lauder and Marc Jacobs.

"After three years of building a strong relationship with Iris&Romeo, we are thrilled to announce our lead series A investment," said Cristina Nunez, co-founder and partner at True Beauty Ventures. "The brand is at a major inflection point driven by excellent product development, strong consumer demand, and an industry tailwind of multi-functional makeup-skin care hybrids. We are excited to support Iris&Romeo in this next phase of growth."