UAE-based Crescent Enterprises has announced a $68 million (AED 250 million) investment program to scale CE-Creates, its venture-building platform. The new funding, combined with strategic leadership appointments, marks a significant step in Crescent’s mission to develop globally competitive, impact-driven startups from the UAE.
The initiative aligns with the country’s growing reputation as a global entrepreneurship hub, supporting the UAE’s long-term vision of becoming a center for innovation, sustainability, and startup excellence.
CE-Creates: A Venture Studio for Global Impact
CE-Creates operates as a sector-agnostic venture studio, deploying staged, patient capital alongside hands-on operational expertise. Its model focuses on transforming early-stage ideas into scalable, internationally competitive businesses.
The platform follows a stage-gated methodology, taking startups through the following phases:
- Idea validation: Identifying market needs and testing core concepts.
- MVP creation: Developing minimum viable products for early adoption.
- Go-to-market: Scaling products with market-ready strategies.
- Expansion: Supporting startups to scale regionally and globally.
This structured process ensures product-market fit, reduces risk, and creates pathways for sustainable growth.
Backed by Strong Leadership and Experience
Crescent Enterprises has appointed Rakhil Fernando as the new Head of CE-Creates. With extensive experience in building and scaling technology-driven ventures, Fernando brings both founder-level insight and operational expertise.
His previous roles include:
- CEO of Yabi, a personal finance platform focused on AI-driven literacy and coaching.
- Founder and CEO of Koko, a buy-now-pay-later and consumer payments platform under Alibaba Group, scaled across South Asia.
- Managing Director at Daraz (Alibaba Group), where he played a key role in growing one of the region’s largest e-commerce platforms.
Fernando’s leadership aims to strengthen CE-Creates’ operational capabilities and accelerate its global reach.
Building Purpose-Driven Ventures
Crescent Enterprises has already incubated a diverse set of ventures through CE-Creates, including:
- Kava & Chai: A brand celebrating the region’s coffee and tea heritage.
- ION: A sustainable mobility company developing eco-friendly transport solutions.
- BreakBread: A digital community platform focused on shared dining and cultural experiences.
According to Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises, “The UAE has become a launchpad for serious builders. With CE-Creates, we help entrepreneurs convert purpose into performance—locally proven, globally competitive.”
Empowering Regional Entrepreneurship
Tushar Singhvi, Deputy CEO and Head of Investments at Crescent Enterprises, emphasized that CE-Creates blends disciplined capital deployment with direct operating support, a combination that traditional venture funding often lacks.
This approach aims to cultivate ventures that not only scale but also contribute to the region’s innovation and sustainability goals.
Crescent Enterprises’ initiative supports the UAE’s broader ambition to be recognized as “The Startup Capital of the World”, a vision championed by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism. The UAE recently topped the 2024–2025 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) rankings for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing its leadership in global startup ecosystems.