CE-Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of UAE-based Crescent Enterprises, announced on Monday that it has acquired a “sizeable minority stake” in Transcorp International, a distribution-solutions provider in the UAE.

This investment is part of Crescent Enterprises’ plan to invest, through CE-Ventures, in early to late stage technology-enabled startups over the next three years with $150 million, 50 per cent of which will be dedicated to Middle East and North Africa-based (Mena) ventures.

“CE-Ventures’ strategy is to identify strong result-oriented founders and support them over the long term. We look forward to working with Transcorp to grow the business, enhance its service portfolio and increase its geographical footprint,”  said Tushar Singhvi, director at CE-Ventures.

Transcorp provies ‘last-mile’ logistics which includes warehousing, transportation and product distribution primarily to the food and beverage (F&B) industry.

With the investment, Transcorp plans to expand its presence in Dubai to other cities in the Mena region including Riyadh and Erbil while extending its offerings to the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), cosmetics and pharmaceuticals sectors.

So far, CE-Ventures has invested $64 million in 18 startups and venture capital funds including UAE-based Kitopi and India-based FreshtoHome.