Venture investment firm Greenoaks Capital Partners warned its startup founders of potential problems at SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank last year, months before the bank’s announcement that it was selling assets to shore up capital, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg News.
(Bloomberg) — Venture investment firm Greenoaks Capital Partners warned its startup founders of potential problems at SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank last year, months before the bank’s announcement that it was selling assets to shore up capital, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg News.
News of the bank’s financial woes this week caused waves of panic, sending the shares plummeting 60% on Thursday and prompting a spate of venture investors to advise startups to withdraw funds from the iconic institution. SVB Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker urged clients to “stay calm” on a call with customers.
In the November email, Greenoaks Managing Partner Neil Mehta warned founders that some banks, including Silicon Valley Bank, might get caught short, having to offer higher interest rates to customers following a series of US Federal Reserve rate hikes, or they’d risk losing clients to rivals. The banks weren’t well-positioned to do this because they made a large number of long-term, low-interest loans that were outstanding, Mehta wrote.
Read more: One Bank Folds, Another Wobbles and Wall Street Ponders a Crisis
More than a dozen Greenoaks companies heeded the warning and withdrew an estimated $1 billion from the bank in recent months, according to a person with knowledge of the startups’ banking relationships.
“In the worst cases, you want to be first to pull deposits rather than last,” Mehta wrote. He warned First Republic Bank was also at risk, according to the email. Representatives of SVB didn’t respond to a request for comment, and a First Republic spokesperson declined to comment.
Greenoaks, which has $15 billion under management, is an investor in companies including design software maker Figma Inc., which agreed to sell itself to Adobe Inc., and app-development platform Airtable. Greenoaks also backs Brex Inc., a seller of financial services to startups and a potential competitor to traditional banks. Mehta sits on Brex’s board.
In his email, Mehta encouraged startups to take their business to bigger banks that didn’t have the same risk and, in some cases, could offer a higher yield. He also acknowledged the chance of a serious issue with Silicon Valley Bank or First Republic was “highly unlikely.”
“This email probably won’t age well,” his missive concludes.
Following SVB’s warning this week, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund asked its portfolio companies to move their funds, according to a person familiar with the matter. Coatue Management, Union Square Ventures and Founder Collective also advised their portfolio companies to pull their money from the bank, people with knowledge of the matter said. Canaan, another major VC firm, told its portfolio companies to remove their cash on an as-needed basis, according to another person.
SVB shares fell another 20% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
(Adds after-hours trading in final paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected the spelling of SVB Financial Group.)
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