A surreal week.
I spoke at an event at Silicon Valley Bank on Tuesday.
The US regulator shut down the US bank on Friday morning.
I woke up this morning to the news that the The Bank of England ‘intends’ to place the UK bank into a bank insolvency procedure.
There’s a lot of finger-pointing happening already as to the cause of this rapid collapse. But my first instinct is to be helpful.
I worked with the
team and this morning to see how we could help founders and funds affected by the situation.We’ve put together a list of resources for founders and funds here. You can also add additional resources through the form.
![Twitter avatar for @ry_paddy](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/ry_paddy.jpg)
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Secondly the team at Odin are working on an emergency funding product to help startups affected - and they’re aiming to have it released before the end of the weekend.
Finally - the government responses in both the US and UK have been underwhelming so far. The second order effects of what has happened are going to have far-reaching effects on the wider economy if a more robust response / support is not immediately made avaialable to depositors at the bank.
By some reports almost 50% of venture backed startups in the US banked with SVB.
If you’re in the US, here’s a thread from Garry Tan on how to reach out to your congressman to highlight the situation:
![Twitter avatar for @garrytan](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/garrytan.jpg)
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In the UK the Bank of England unhelpfully described SVB as having a ‘limited presence.’
There is a letter being sent to Jeremy Hunt today highlighting the impact of the collapse on not just UK startups, but the economy as a whole. I’m a signatory. If you’re a funded founder and would like to sign it, respond to this email or dm me on twitter and I’ll share the details.