Its website lists Shopify, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings among its clients. According to its website, it did business with nearly half of all US venture capital-backed startups and 44% of US venture-backed tech and health-care companies that went public last year. But the selloff in bank shares that followed SVB’s woes reflected worries that the ripple effects of interest-rate hikes could hurt at least the most vulnerable lenders, and prompted an emergency package of support from US regulators.Īs the only publicly traded bank focused on Silicon Valley and new tech ventures, SVB was deeply embedded in the US startup scene. Major banks are much better capitalized than they were before the global financial crisis, and SVB’s deposit base was unusually concentrated in venture-backed startups. So when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed in the face of a funding crunch, investors wondered if its plight was a harbinger of broader trouble. Regulators have long warned that the end of rock-bottom interest rates could cause sudden crises in unexpected corners of global finance.

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