Silicon Valley Bank collapse: More than 400 VC funds issue statement supporting SVB

Hemant Taneja, CEO of VC firm General Catalyst tweeted and informed about the development, Sunday. “Sunday: In last 36 hrs, 400+ VC firms w/ trillions in AUM signed on to support @SVB_Financial. Role in global ecosystem is critical for our industry/world to continue responsible innovation & supporting vibrant economy. More tk; support not stopping here” Taneja’s tweet read.

“The events that unfolded over the past 48 hours have been deeply disappointing and concerning. In the event that SVB were to be purchased and appropriately capitalized, we would be strongly supportive and encourage our portfolio companies to resume their banking relationship with them,” the statement read.

The statement also acknowledged SVB’s role in serving startups globally. The bank had been operational for forty years, since 1983.

The VC firms that co-signed the statement include Accel, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst and Matrix Partners, among others.

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On Wednesday, the SVB Financial Group announced that it was raising $2.25 billion in a share sale, in addition to having sold securities worth $21 billion from its portfolio. The bank also said it booked an after-tax loss of $1.8 billion on the sale of these investments. This led to solvency fears, sparking the stock crash and scaring customers into pulling out deposits.On Friday, a California regulator shut Silicon Valley Bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver.

The bank had $209 billion in assets and about $175.4 billion in deposits as of December 2022. The main office and all branches of it will reopen on March 13 and all insured depositors will have full access to their insured deposits no later than Monday morning, according to a statement from the FDIC.