Warren Buffett's Holding Invests $600 Mln in Fintech Firms Focused on Emerging Markets

Multinational holding conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway - which counts outspoken crypto critic Warren Buffett as its CEO and chairman - has invested around $600 million in two fintech payment firms focused on emerging markets, the Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 29.

Both investments are said to have been spearheaded by one of Berkshire's two portfolio managers, Todd Combs.

In August, Berkshire is reported to have bought a roughly $300 million stake in the parent company of Paytm, India's largest mobile-payments service.

The WSJ underscores that both decisions mark something of a departure for Berkshire, which which has $711.932 billion in assets under management as of 2018, and is best-known for its investments in blue-chip firms such as Coca-Cola and acquisitions of utilities and insurance firms.

Buffett has in the past said that tech investments are beyond his area of expertise, WSJ notes.

That tech is not within Buffett's "Circle of competence" was affirmed by self-professed Buffett disciple venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya this spring, when he took his icon to task for his virulent anti-crypto stance.

Alongside Berkshire's second portfolio manager Ted Weschler, are nonetheless reported to be "Widening the net" of the conglomerate: yet, as WSJ highlights, both Stone and Paytm are considered to be established companies, which dominate their respective local markets and operate in tightly regulated industries.

The WSJ says Berkshire's backing is a sign of the "Maturity" of the fintech sector, which reportedly raised almost $35 billion in venture capital during the first three quarters of 2018.

Berkshire's move to put major capital into two fintech firms that target emerging markets squares uneasily with the vocal position of Buffett, who has become notorious in fintech and crypto circles for castigating Bitcoin as being "Rat poison-squared." He has made repeated statements claiming that Bitcoin is neither a currency, nor a way of investing.

Crypto's popularity continued through 2017, eliciting a controversial anti-crypto crackdown from the country's central bank this April, which has prompted both public and industry-led petitions.