Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

What are Sinefine Founding Partner Yasmine Lacaillade's concerns with the bankruptcy of SVB?

9 Apr 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:52

In this segment of a YouTube discussion, two speakers examine the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) bankruptcy, focusing on why many tech startups and venture funds chose SVB as their primary bank. They explain that traditional large banks typically require venture funds to hold $50‑$100 million in assets before offering banking services, a threshold that excludes many early‑stage firms and pushes them toward niche banks like SVB. The speakers also express disappointment that JPMorgan Chase did not step in as a "white‑knight" during the crisis, viewing the missed intervention as a lost opportunity for JPMorgan to deepen its presence in the rapidly growing fintech and venture‑capital‑backed startup sector. Overall, the conversation highlights structural banking barriers for startups, the strategic implications of SVB's collapse, and the perceived gap in large‑bank response.

Chapters

A lot of the articles out there were talking about like, oh, why are all of the tech startups and funds banked with this bank? And the reality is like, as most of like the big banks won't bank funds unless they're like $50 to $100 million, which is—
I think it's really crazy that traditional banks, like when there was a run on the bank a couple of Fridays ago and SVB declared bankruptcy and the FDIC stepped in, I was convinced that JPMorgan was going to come in and swoop in as the white knight over the weekend. And when they didn't, I was really, I was really disappointed and really upset because for 2 reasons. One, I was like, man, my initial reaction was what a waste of an opportunity for JPMorgan to get deeper involved into, you know, one of the fastest growing financial services industries.