Berkshire Hathaway, a worldwide holding company led by billionaire Warren Buffett, has invested $500 million in Nubank, a Brazilian digital bank. Nubank announced the $500 million investment on Tuesday, saying it will be used to pursue its worldwide development — the business just debuted in Colombia — and also recruit new leaders from large IT firms. Nubank has more than 40 million users in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, according to the company.
The money will help “democratize access to banking services” in Latin America, according to Nubank CEO David Vélez. Only half of the people in the region have bank accounts, according to him, and about 21% use credit cards. “No one believed it was feasible to overhaul the financial sector,” Vélez explained, “but we were always confident that there was opportunity for change and creativity, and, more significantly, that customers should get good service.”
Buffett has stated earlier that Bitcoin (BTC) and certain other cryptocurrencies have “essentially no value” and that he will never purchase any of them. Last month, at a shareholders meeting, vice chair Charlie Munger described cryptocurrency as “helpful to kidnappers and scam artists.”
Nevertheless, in the previous year, the international company has made investments in a broader range of companies, notably cloud technology startup Snowflake. As of March 31, Berkshire Hathaway owned billions of dollars’ worth Apple and Amazon shares.
