Crescent Enterprises launches Venture Capital arm

Crescent Enterprises, a UAE company whose business interests span ports and logistics to health care and entertainment, has launched a corporate venture capital arm, with plans to invest US$150 million over the next three years, its chief executive Badr Jafar said.

There is a strong investment pipeline for early to late-stage start-ups and about 50 per cent of the Crescent Enterprises’ Venture Capital or CE-VC’s investments will target those companies across the Middle East and North Africa region and beyond.

“Over the years, Crescent Enterprises has invested in a number of high-growth sectors from ports and logistics to health care, recognising the strong business case to diversify,” Mr Jafar said. “We have also been quietly active in the corporate venture capital space.”

Crescent Enterprises has already made investments in companies such as Abraaj Group, the biggest private equity player in the region; Growthgate Capital; the venture capital firm Wamda Capital, and healthcare investments-focused TVM Healthcare. It has launched an in-house incubator, CE-Ventures, which is committed to incubating financially sustainable and socially conscious businesses.

“Over the past two years, we have made one investment every month on average. In the last six months alone, we have invested in a wide range of start-ups from a Silicon Valley-based drone company for the industrial sector and robotic surgery technologies, to an e-commerce platform for fisheries in India,” Mr Jafar said, adding that Crescent has seeded entrepreneur graduates from the American University of Sharjah who are developing an artificial intelligence project management system.

Governments across the region are encouraging investments in start-ups, especially technology sector firms. Private sector investors have also actively sought to provide seed or growth capital to promising businesses.

Financial technology, in particular, has garnered interest from venture capital firms.

“In the Middle East we are approaching a juncture where the private sector needs to drive the next wave of innovation and growth, while at the same time addressing our region’s most acute social, economic and environmental challenges,” Mr Jafar said.

“It is clear to us that alongside our existing businesses, corporate venture capital is a powerful way to achieve this.”

Crescent Enterprises is a subsidiary of the family-owned Crescent Group and its operating businesses Gulftainer, Momentum Logistics, Uruk Engineering & Contracting and Gama Aviation. Its subsidiary Crescent Investments manages the company’s investments across various asset classes.