“The biggest collapse since the financial crisis” is no laughing matter. Silicon Valley Bank was the bank of many founders and funds (30% according to some estimates), including our own at Remagine Ventures. The decisive action taken today by the Department of Treasury, The Federal Reserve and the FDIC (the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) to make depositors whole and get access to their account balance on Monday morning, averted a much bigger financial crisis and knock on effects. In the UK, SVB UK was acquired by HSBC for a symbolic sum of £1, also guaranteeing depositors have access to their accounts with no cost to the taxpayer in both cases.
Needless to say, it was a very stressful weekend. Even in our relatively small portfolio at Remagine, we had companies uncertain if they can make make payroll – as amounts are automatically deducted today to pay employees on the 15th of the month. We were prepared to do what it takes to keep them going. Big thanks to everyone that worked tirelessly over the weekend to bring this crisis to a swift resolution in the UK and US. For the first time in 72 hours the tech sector can breathe with a sigh of relief.
While the situation in still unfolding with additional regional banks in the US, we’re not fully out of the woods yet. But for our own mental health, here are a few of the memes/tweets/funny stories that capture this (hopefully) once in a lifetime crisis.
Get the bank run t-shirt
If you’ve ever ran the ‘Corporate Challenge’ in New York you’re familiar with the annual jerseys. This is a special edition for ‘Bank Run’
Thought 2020 was hard? life of a founder in 2023
4 Days before it collapsed
How we got here
Now we can go back to normal…
The calm after the storm
The Simpsons predicted Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in 1994!
Unfortunate coincidence?
Jason ALL CAPS Calacanis
For those who listen to the excellent ALL IN podcast…
VCs congratulating themselves
Different way of explaining the situation
Now that we vented a bit, I’ll take the opportunity to thank everyone who helped bring this to a quick and positive outcome.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
