Diversified United Arab Emirates-based conglomerate Crescent Enterprises has formed a venture capital fund that will invest up to $150m, Gulf News reported on Wednesday.
Crescent oversees a range of businesses including port operator Gulftainer, logistics services provider Momentum Logistics, aviation services subsidiary Gama Aviation and turnkey engineering and construction business Uruk.
The firm also makes private equity investments and operates a social impact-focused business incubator.
CEO Badr Jafar said Crescent has already begun making VC investments and has so far backed companies including a Silicon Valley-headquartered industrial drone developer and an India-based e-commerce platform for fisheries.
The VC fund will invest directly in early and later-stage companies across the world, though about half of the capital reserved for the fund will go to recipients based in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The $150m will be allocated in the next three years.
Jafar said: “We are approaching a juncture where the private sector needs to drive the next wave of innovation and growth, whilst at the same time addressing our region’s most acute social, economic and environmental challenges.
“It is clear to us that alongside our existing businesses, corporate venture capital is a powerful way to achieve this, and therefore it is the right time to formalise this rapidly growing side of our business.”