CE-Creates And Hatch & Boost Conclude The MENA's First Venture Builder Merger Hatch & Boost Ventures will aim to make sustainable and social impact across the MENA region.
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CE-Creates, the business incubation platform of Crescent Enterprises, has completed the merger of its portfolio of startups with Hatch & Boost, an Abu Dhabi-based venture builder.
The new enterprise, which will be called Hatch & Boost Ventures, will work to scale up to five new startups per year, as well as to expand into Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Hatch & Boost Ventures will also continue to support its exisiting portfolio of seven startups, including foddertech solutions provider World of Farming, sustainable transportation provider ION, supperclub digital platform BreakBread, specialty coffeehouse Kava and Chai, feminine care platform RE:, digital token tipping application TipiT, and high-tech workwear brand Shamal.
"A powerful way to address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges across our region is to nurture entrepreneurs who are creating the solutions to these challenges through innovation," said Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises. "This is something Crescent Enterprises has always believed in, and has been pursuing for over two decades through our various platforms. Last year, the UAE ranked first in the region for venture capital investments with a record AED4.3 billion of investments in startups, and this trend is on an upward trajectory. We are also witnessing a pivot towards businesses that align their financial goals with their environmental and social impact, and our combined venture builder intends to be at the forefront of these positive trends."
Faris Mesmar, CEO and Managing Partner of Hatch & Boost, believes that the biggest opportunity lies where impact and profit are viewed as equally imperative to the success of any startup. "The merger of our portfolio of startups with CE-Creates is an incredible opportunity for us to drive ESG practices forward in the region, by enhancing our ability to launch and scale sustainable ventures across a number of sectors," he said.
Speaking to Entrepreneur Middle East, Mesmar said that he expects the merger to be a shot in the arm for sustainability-focused startups in the MENA entrepreneurial ecosystem. "With the UAE rallying funds to support climate action, especially following the launch of the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative, and with the UAE set to host COP 28 in 2023, driving sustainability by investing in digital innovations that will advance low-carbon economies is becoming more of a priority today than ever before," he said. "With this in mind, and in order to further support our governments future vision, our aim at Hatch & Boost is to usher in a new era for the ESG startup ecosystem by creating these solutions, "hatching' the startups, and designing sustainable finance frameworks which integrate environmental, social, and governance criteria that will directly address climate and social challenges. There is much to be done in this space ahead of COP 28, and that includes even more collaboration between the public and private sectors to push the impact investing agenda forward.''
Since its inception in 2018, CE-Creates has been committed to developing numerous early-stage concepts that address complex niche problems within local communities, targeting scale, profitability, and measurable impact. Similarly, Hatch & Boost's approach serves to fill gaps in early-stage startup development, as well as de-risk early-stage investment into impact-driven startups by utilizing a shared pool of resources, ultimately lowering the startup capital cost and optimizing this capital through economies of scale.
