Over 100 VCs, investors express solidarity with Silicon Valley Bank
When the 40-year-old banking institution, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), went out of business, many venture capitalists (VCs) and investors banded together and decided to cushion the impact in case the bank “should be bought and properly capitalized. “
About 125 VCs and investors signed a statement supporting SVB to limit the fallout of the bank’s collapse and the subsequent impact on technology companies. The venture firms included Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst.
A group of investors for high-profile firms met over Zoom in a series of meetings, a Bloomberg report revealed. Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst, first revealed the joint statement from several VCs, showing support for the bank. It said:
“In the event that SVB were to be acquired and properly capitalized, we would be strongly supportive and encourage our portfolio companies to resume their banking relationships with them.”[ads1];
In parallel, startup incubator Y Combinator released a petition calling for “depositors to be made whole, and for regulation to prevent this disaster.”
According to Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan, the petition — aimed at regulators including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Martin Gruenberg — received signatures from approximately 2,800 founders and 180,000 employees at the time of writing.
“Everyone understands that we have a role to play in trying to calm the situation,” Taneja told Bloomberg. Prominent Indian entrepreneur Ashneer Grover, however, disputed this effort to save SVB, reminding Taneja that banks are not saved by passing bureaucratic, UN-style joint resolutions – examining the mindset of pouring money into a problem in the hope of fixing it . “It takes intention and balls of steel!” he concluded.
Related: Silicon Valley Bank’s UK branch was closed down by the Bank of England
Hours after USD Coin (USDC) lost its peg to the US dollar, unconfirmed reports of a breakup momentarily pushed the token’s prices back to nearly $1.
While the reports are currently unconfirmed, multiple sources confirm that many different paths to resolution are in the works and that depositors will get “at least 50% of their deposits” back in the coming week.
