Iris Nova Information

Iris Nova was a New York–based CPG holding company and technology platform founded in 2018 by Zak Normandin. It served as the parent company to DIRTY LEMON and built its business around a proprietary conversational commerce (cCommerce) platform — delivering a text-based ordering, fulfillment, and customer experience system to modern consumer products brands.  At its core, Iris Nova combined brand incubation and platform services: it launched in-house beverage products, while also offering a SAAS platform to third-party brands that enabled integration of its SMS-powered infrastructure and distribution network.  This model allowed for faster product development, tighter customer feedback loops, and deeper data-driven insights.  Its most visible brand, DIRTY LEMON, benefited from this infrastructure by pioneering SMS-first direct-to-consumer sales, expanding into new wellness formulations, and experimenting with frictionless physical retail via The Drug Store concept.  In 2018, Iris Nova secured a $15 million seed investment led by Coca-Cola’s Venturing & Emerging Brands unit, supporting the expansion of its beverage portfolio and platform capabilities.  The investment also formalized the acquisition of DIRTY LEMON into Iris Nova’s structure, uniting the technology and brand under one roof.  Despite early momentum and strategic backing, Iris Nova faced severe headwinds from retail disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, it reduced its workforce amid a collapse in wholesale and brick-and-mortar channels, and ultimately ceased operations in 2022.  Iris Nova’s legacy lies in showing how technology and direct consumer relationships can be leveraged for CPG brands in the future — and how conversational commerce (via SMS) can serve as a foundation for modern brand ecosystems.