Leading VC firms pledge to be 'strongly supportive' towards Silicon Valley Bank post collapse

In the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank closure by California banking regulators, top venture capitalists have said that they would be "strongly supportive" of the lender.

Leading VC firms, through a joint statement said, that SVB has been a trusted and long-time partner to the venture capital industry. "For forty years, it has been an important platform that played a pivotal role in serving the startup community and supporting the innovation economy in the US," the statement read.

The statement was signed by Accel, Altimeter Capital, B Capital Group, General Catalyst, Gil Capital, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and Upfront Ventures.

The events that unfolded over the past 48 hours have been "deeply disappointing and concerning", the statement said, adding that "in the event that SVB were to be purchased and appropriately capitalised, we would be strongly supportive and encourage our portfolio companies to resume their banking relationship with them."

The joint statement was tweeted by Hemant Taneja, CEO, General Catalyst, who said, "Several VC leaders met today to discuss the aftermath of SVB’s downfall. This is a joint statement from all of us."

The closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which mainly invested in start-ups worldwide, has rattled the Indian start-up ecosystem. Based in Santa Clara, the lender was ranked as the 16th biggest in the U.S. at the end of last year, with about $209 billion in assets.    

SVB's collapse has shocked the tech industry worldwide, as tech unicorns and SaaS were the biggest customers for SVB. 

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will sell the assets of SVB, while the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara (DINB) will maintain its normal business activities. While the insured depositors of SVB will receive their insured deposits, the uninsured depositors in the bank will be paid dividends from the asset sale.

As per the latest Tracxn data, SVB had exposure in 21 start-ups in India, though the amount of investment is not clearly mentioned.

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