It was a blow to the heart of the startup industry wit the potential to destroy thousands of startups and hundreds of VC funds: The sudden death of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank has sent shockwaves through the startup industry not just in the U.S., but around the world. Regulators in the U.S. and UK took action to prevent a super-GAU.
After all, with subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, Canada, India, China (via the joint venture SPD Silicon Valley Bank Co), Israel, Sweden, or Denmark, the “house bank” of the startup industry is represented in numerous markets. The UK subsidiary has already been sent into insolvency.
In total, there could be more than 35,000 corporate clients (mostly startups from the tech and life sciences sectors) and more than 2,600 VC and PE firms worldwide affected by the SVB collapse.
On Sunday, U.S. regulators set measures to prevent customers of the two banks from losing their money. The regulators said that Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank customers would be made whole regardless of how much they held in their accounts. Depositors of both banks will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13.