Silicon Valley Bank collapse turns hopes for a ‘good harvest’ from combination of US capital and China tech into a nightmare
- SVB had become a popular place for many Chinese start-ups and venture capital funds to park their US dollar funds
- Many Chinese tech companies with US dollar funding ‘will be worried about how far those accounts will be protected’ says legal expert
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which has historically played a key role in giving Chinese tech start-ups access to US money, has turned a bromance into a nightmare for many of its clients and investors, according to industry sources.
On a visit to the office of the bank’s joint venture with Shanghai-backed Pudong Development Bank on Monday by the Post, there were few signs of visible trouble, as staff came in and out of their place of work to grab cups of coffee.
The joint venture bank said on Saturday that it is a separate entity registered in China and its balance sheet is independent of SVB’s.
In the illuminated entrance to SPD Silicon Valley Bank situated on the 21st floor of the office building, there is a poem written in Chinese calligraphy by Tu Guangshao, Shanghai’s former vice-mayor, which conjures up a rosy future for the merger of US money with China technology.
In the poem, “a gift” to the joint venture in 2015 when US funds were pouring into China’s tech landscape, Tu writes that SVB and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank can “play their role” and that the combination of technology and finance “brings hope of great harvests”.
