CPG Venture Math Behind a Series A, and Making Founders "Whole" on Dilution - Iris Ventures

**Episode 121: Iris Ventures: Florian Wojewodzki on the CPG Venture Math Behind a Series A, Making Founders "Whole" on Dilution, and the Health-and-Wellness Supercycle** In this episode — the show's first growth-stage consumer/CPG investor after 130 episodes — I sit down with Florian Wojewodzki, Partner at Iris Ventures, an early-growth, consumer-focused fund headquartered in Barcelona with a satellite in London, managing just over €225M across two funds. Florian gives one of the most transparent breakdowns of venture math I've heard: Iris underwrites every deal to 4x its money (they're a MOIC shop, not an IRR shop), targets a 3–5 year hold, and typically leads or co-leads for 15–25% ownership with €7–8M initial checks that can step up to €20M inclusive of follow-ons. We get into exactly what a Series A founder needs to clear the bar (roughly €3M+ revenue, real capital efficiency, healthy gross margins, strong repeat), why Iris never underwrites to multiple expansion or to IPO, and how they think about exits (mostly strategic sale). Florian is refreshingly candid about founder incentives — Iris has asked existing cap tables to hand founders back 5–10 points when they've been over-diluted, because a founder without skin in the game is a problem down the line. Then we go deep on his biggest conviction: a 10–15 year health-and-wellness supercycle, why "health is wealth" is reshaping wallet share, where the real edge lives (novel, science-backed ingredients over commoditized "brand plays"), and the thesis behind his recent seed investment in Lucille, a senior-nutrition brand chasing a massive, un-innovated white space. 🎧 Listen to the full masterclass to hear the founder question Florian always asks ("what are you optimizing for?"), why raising at the highest possible valuation can set you up for pain, the 4–5x top-line growth you need to be "in the money," why consumer is a natural moat while everyone else piles into AI and defense, and how Iris found Lucille pre-launch through an angel network. **Key Facts: Iris Ventures** - Florian Wojewodzki: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-wojewodzki-36434424 - Website: weareiris.com - Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain - Fund: An early-growth, consumer-focused venture fund managing just over €225M across two funds - Stage & Focus: Almost exclusively Series A / Series B branded consumer propositions (with a very high bar for 1–2 seed deals per fund). ~80% Western Europe + UK, up to ~20% opportunistically in the US. - Check Sizes: €7–8M initial, stepping up to €20M inclusive of follow-on reserves; leads or co-leads all rounds and takes board seats. **Blurb** **IRIS VENTURES** is a rare thing in European venture: a true consumer specialist, deploying just over €225M across two funds into Series A and B branded consumer businesses with the brand sensibility and ear-to-the-ground the category demands. What makes this conversation so useful is Florian Wojewodzki's willingness to show the actual machinery of the decision. Iris is a MOIC shop that underwrites every deal to 4x over three to five years, never bets on multiple expansion, and is transparent with founders at the term-sheet stage about exactly what it has promised its LPs. The result is a clear, teachable picture of what a growth-stage consumer round really requires — roughly €3M+ in revenue, genuine capital efficiency, durable gross margins, and a credible path to a strategic exit — and an honest account of the traps, from raising at a valuation you can't grow into to arriving at Series A already over-diluted.