Conception Nurseries Announces the Appointment of Two Members to the Board of Directors

    SACRAMENTO, CA, April 07, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Conception Nurseries, a leading cannabis tissue-culture company with facilities in California and Oregon, announced that Dov Szapiro and Will Muecke have joined the board of directors. Both bring tremendous experience and strategic insight to the rapidly evolving market for consistent genetic strains of cannabis clones that enable growers to scale while reducing costs. Szapiro and Muecke are highly experienced senior executives, investors, advisers and board members in companies across multiple industries worldwide.

Szapiro is the co-founder and managing member at Entourage Effect Capital (EEC) a United States private investment firm dedicated to investing in the cannabis industry. Muecke is a co-founder and managing member of Artemis Growth Partners, the industry-leading ESG and impact-oriented private equity platform in global cannabis.

Szapiro is focused on transforming cannabis companies into industry leaders and uses his experience derived from founding and selling one of his startups to a $1 billion conglomerate to assist portfolio companies with strategy, operations and business development. He is well versed in using structured buyouts, acquisitions, mergers and IPOs to grow companies.

"EEC was an initial investor of Conception Nurseries and we worked with its CEO, Kevin Brooks, and the Board of Directors to lead various transactions that have led to Conception having one of the strongest balance sheets in that space," says Szapiro. "Conception's proprietary tissue-culture micropropagation technology, team and business model are exactly what licensed cannabis growers need to meet the ever-increasing demand for healthy, high-quality, predictable and affordable cannabis strains in this rapidly growing industry."

The mission of EEC (formerly Cresco Capital Partners, LLC) is to actively leverage its sector and investment experience, networks, and investment process to identify, invest and accelerate high-quality emerging growth companies. As one of the first growth equity investors in the cannabis industry, EEC has already allocated $200+ million since 2014 into 65+ companies.

Muecke formerly was managing director and global co-head of healthcare services investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. before developing his first GIIRS-certified, award-winning emerging markets impact private equity fund, backed by the World Bank and other leading ESG-oriented investors, which was the predecessor to Artemis Growth Partners.

"At Artemis Growth Partners, we invest in the most defensible, dynamic, and visionary companies in cannabis, and we're excited about the tremendous market opportunities available based on the science-driven approach that Conception Nurseries uses to mass produce highly scalable, genetically certified cannabis clones that reduce costs and overhead for growers," says Muecke.

Artemis oversees $320+ million in mission-driven discretionary assets under management invested in a portfolio of 30 companies spanning the rapidly growing legal cannabis markets of the US, Colombia, the Caribbean, Israel, China, Europe, and the United Kingdom.

Kevin Brooks, CEO of Conception Nurseries, welcomed the two new board members saying: "We're very fortunate that Dov Szapiro and Will Muecke have chosen to bring their vast experience in the cannabis industry and investment community to our company. "They are both key partners and true value-add investors that will help Conception achieve an unparalleled competitive edge and strategic growth while delivering greater value to our customers."

Conception Nurseries brings tissue culture technology to the cannabis industry and produces TrueClone plantlets free of pathogens and with exceptional vigor at a cost-per-plant below producers' in-house costs. In 2020 Conception won the prestigious Ready to Invest™ award from The Arcview Group and was named a Top Ten Cannabis Tech Solution Provider by Enterprise Technology Review.

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