{"id":381137,"date":"2026-04-15T18:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/381137\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T18:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:50:14","slug":"iris-leads-multimillion-dollar-investment-into-nutrition-brand-lucille","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/381137\/","title":{"rendered":"Iris Leads Multimillion Dollar Investment Into Nutrition Brand Lucille"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLONDON<\/a> \u2014 Iris Ventures<\/a> has led a multimillion-dollar round investment in Lucille Health, a science-backed, functional nutrition company targeted at older adults, with products used by people of all ages.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company makes high-protein, high-fiber shakes that address age-related frailty, muscle loss and digestive issues tied to aging. The shakes put a particular emphasis on B vitamins, calcium and vitamin D.<\/p>\n

\n\tBased in Boston, the company was founded in 2025 by Jess Haghani, a Harvard<\/a> MBA graduate and KKR<\/a> private equity alumna. She aimed to fill what she viewed as a mega-niche for healthy nutritional drinks in a market dominated by sugar-packed options that haven\u2019t changed their formulations in years.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview, Haghani said she came up with the idea after helping take care of her grandmother, Lucille, who was recovering from major surgery related to atrial fibrillation.<\/p>\n

\n\tHer grandmother, a former opera singer, had been in good health before going into hospital. She was still independent and driving her Cadillac, but the surgery was hard on her, the convalescence was long, and there were no real meal options to speed her recovery, and help build back her strength.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaghani said that all her family could find on supermarket shelves were \u201coutdated legacy products, filled with seed oils, artificial colors and flavors. They were not aimed at fueling recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe added it was clear there had been no food or beverage innovation in the senior space, products had not kept up with the times or the aging demographic. So she decided to fill the niche with a healthy option of her own.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cModern aging deserves more than what this category has offered: a brand that finally sees older adults as the whole, dynamic people they are,\u201d Haghani said. \u201cIt is time to reframe the narrative of how we perceive aging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEach shake provides a complete meal of more than 230 calories, 20 grams of lactose-free protein, more than 5 grams of fiber and 23 vitamins and minerals. Gluten-free, it comes in vanilla and chocolate flavors and costs $3.67 per bottle.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaghani said that while Lucille is targeted at older people who may no longer be cooking for themselves, who have problems with digestion, or who were convalescing like her now \u2014 fully recovered \u2014 92-year-old grandmother, all ages are drinking it. The shake can be mixed with fruit, used instead of milk in breakfast cereal and eaten as a snack.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaghani developed the product with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health nutritionists and food scientist Jarret Stopforth. The packaging has also been considered with older people in mind. The Lucille team has swapped twist cap bottles for a tab-and-straw design aimed at seniors with reduced grip strength.<\/p>\n

\n\tLucille launched in March across direct-to-consumer channels, Amazon and B2B via assisted living facilities in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"lucille<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLucille products.<\/p>\n

\n\tFlorian Wojewodzki,<\/a> partner at Iris Ventures<\/a>, said the team was \u201cimmediately captured by Jess\u2019 relentless crusade to launch the first better-for-you senior nutrition proposition, largely precipitated by her grandmother\u2019s own health journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added: \u201cThrough science-led innovation and tireless product iteration toward healthier, tastier, happier and more efficacious nutrition, Lucille has armed itself with a standout inaugural product offering. We\u2019re thrilled to be partnering with Jess and her team to help disrupt the future of this category together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMontse Suarez<\/a>, founder and managing partner of Iris Ventures<\/a>, said her team has \u201cspent years watching nutrition be built for the young, but the generation that needs it most has been an afterthought. That\u2019s not just a missed business opportunity. It\u2019s a failure of empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSuarez added that when the Iris team came across Lucille, \u201cit felt like something we had been waiting years to find, a company that genuinely puts seniors at the center of everything they do. What Jess is building takes real courage, and that kind of boldness is exactly what this industry needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIris sees the senior nutrition space as a major investment opportunity, and believes, like Haghani, that older people \u2014 whether or not they\u2019re in rude health \u2014 have long been underserved when it comes to off-the-shelf, nutritious meals.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fund said the aging population is creating one of the largest consumer nutrition markets of the next 30 years. The 75 and older and 85 and older populations in the U.S. are expected to grow by 45 percent and 100 percent, respectively, over the next decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt added that senior nutrition modernization lags that of children\u2019s nutrition by 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition, the global medical foods market was valued at $25 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $34 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 5.1 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\tNorth America leads the category with the largest revenue share. This growth is underpinned by one of the most consequential demographic shifts of our time with an estimated 56 million elderly Americans expected to depend on medical foods to fulfill their nutritional needs by 2030.<\/p>\n

\n\tIris specializes in lifestyle, health and wellness brands that aim to enhance mind and body. <\/p>\n

\n\tIts portfolio includes Biomel, a market-leading, plant-based gut health brand; Superlativa, a plant-based, drug- and hormone-free supplement that aims to help regulate women\u2019s levels of cortisol, and Maurten, a global sports nutrition company based in Sweden that specializes in high-energy foods.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year Iris published \u201cLongevity Through Nutrition,\u201d a report pointing out that everyday people of all ages \u2014 not just multibillionaires \u2014 are looking for small, consistent ways to live healthy, vibrant lives for as long as possible. It also led a multimillion-dollar investment into Healf, the slick online platform selling premium wellness products tailored to customers\u2019 specific needs.<\/p>\n

\n\tLucille is the latest wellness-based company to get investment this month. Last week Unilever <\/a>purchased Gr\u00fcns, a fast-growing gummy expert with a leading position in the greens supplement category, in a deal valued at reported $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this week, Beauty Inc reported that Maria Sharapova<\/a> and Gabriela Hearst have invested in the new women\u2019s hormonal supplement brand Amulet. The supplement is designed to support hormonal balance for women and promote energy, mood, strength and cognitive performance throughout the entire menstrual cycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Iris Ventures has led a multimillion-dollar round investment in Lucille Health, a science-backed, functional nutrition company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,198173,1619,198174,111,139,556,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-381137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-iris-ventures","10":"tag-london","11":"tag-montse-suarez","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nutrition","15":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}