Warren Buffett Takes First Direct Investment in India With Paytm
One97 Communications Limited, the parent firm of digital payments organization Paytm, has raised $300 million from very world richest and billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
One97 raised this new round of funding through allotment of 17,02,713 completely paid equity shares from BH International Holdings through private placement basis on September 27, 2018, as per the administrative reports recorded by One97, which were sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc. BH International Holdings is a Cayman Islands-based substance of Berkshire Hathaway which is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
A month ago One97 uncovered Berkshire is joining Ant Financial, SoftBank, Alibaba and SAIF Partners as key investors in the organization. Todd Combs, the investment manager at Berkshire Hathaway, has joined the organization’s board of directors.
“Berkshire’s experience in financial services and long-term investment horizon is going to be a huge advantage in Paytm’s journey of bringing 500 million Indians to the mainstream economy through financial inclusion,” Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, had said in a statement.
Todd Combs, Investment manager, Berkshire Hathaway had said that he was inspired by Paytm and was amped up for being a piece of its development story, “as it looks to transform payments and financial services in India.”
The new round of funding comes when Paytm is struggling and confronting a wild rivalry from its domestic and international competitors, for example, Google’s mobile wallet service Google Pay [Tez] and Flipkart’s PhonePe. Facebook-claimed WhatsApp which has more 200 million clients in India is likewise looking at blasting advanced installments showcase in the nation. Paytm as of late claimed that Google Pay is damaging and violating data privacy norms and regulations. The company also cried foul over WhatsApp’s payment feature.
The digital wallet and mobile payment service industry in India is relied upon to rise five fold to reach $1 trillion by 2023 and it would be driven by the development in versatile installments, as per a report by financial services giant Credit Suisse.