17,000 m²
Indoor footprint
18 t
Annual capacity
Since 2020
In production
Essence Investment AG
Premium assets at the heart of Europe’s growing cannabis markets.
A Swiss-domiciled investment platform with controlling stakes in vertically integrated cultivation, distribution and brand companies across Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.
Marry Jane AG · Breitenbach, Switzerland
Our approach
We invest in regulated European cannabis at the points where regulation is the moat.
Essence holds majority and significant minority stakes in four operating companies across the European cannabis value chain — cultivation, manufacturing, wholesale and brand. Our strategy concentrates on jurisdictions where licences are scarce, regulation is firm, and domestic supply is structurally protected.
01
Operating model
Essence acts as an active majority or significant-minority shareholder, providing governance, capital and strategic direction. Operating teams retain day-to-day control.
02
Selection criteria
We invest where the licence regime is genuinely scarce, where the operating asset is hard to replicate, and where the regulatory direction of travel is clear.
03
Time horizon
Long-term holding. Essence is not a fund with a fixed exit window — we build and govern these businesses for decades, not vintage years.
Portfolio
Four operating companies. Three countries. One platform.
Essence holds operating stakes in cultivation, distribution and brand companies across Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.
Markets we operate in
Three regulated European markets at three different phases of legalisation.
Essence’s portfolio is structured around the three European markets where cannabis regulation is most active today: Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.
SwitzerlandRecreational THC
Federal pilots, moving toward a national framework.
7
Active pilots
2028
Target sales start
NetherlandsRecreational THC
The Wietexperiment is regulating supply for the first time.
10
Licensed cultivators
78
Approved coffeeshops
GermanyMedical THC
Europe’s largest medical cannabis market, regulated as pharma.
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Governance
A board with backgrounds in private equity, investment banking, Swiss law and global health.
Essence Investment AG is governed by a board combining decades of executive experience across capital markets, regulation, public health and operating cannabis businesses.
Dr. Denis Broun
Director
30+ years in executive roles at WHO, UNITAID and UNICEF. Doctor of Medicine. EU/Switzerland.
Benjamin Leupi-Landwing
Director
15 years in Swiss law and audit. Public Prosecutor of the Swiss Army since 2018. Former investigation judge. Switzerland.
Bernard Sucher
Director
30+ years in investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Troika). Director at Tikun Olam USA.
Henricus Stander
Director
30+ years in private equity and investment banking. Worked in the White House. Harvard and Dartmouth alumnus. EU/USA.
Vladimir Smetanin
Director
20 years in strategy and management consulting (ex-BCG). Serial entrepreneur. Head of strategy at a top-five global petrochemical group. Switzerland.
Latest news
From the firm and its portfolio.
Updates on operating companies, regulatory developments across Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, and corporate announcements from Essence Investment AG.
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10 December 2025Essence completes €30M Growery cultivation facility; first deliveries begin to Dutch coffeeshopsPortfolio
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21 November 2025New Dutch cannabis grower ready to supply coffee shopsPortfolio
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20 November 2025Growery becomes ninth Wietexperiment cultivator to begin supplying Dutch coffeeshopsPortfolio
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May 2025Growery confirms start of production for Dutch WietexperimentPortfolio
A regulated industry deserves a regulated investor.
Essence Investment AG · Switzerland
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