Silicon Valley Bank stock crash: Decoding the lender's crisis and its India investments

Produced by: Bhavya Kaushal
Designed by: Mohsin

The California-based Silicon Valley Bank crisis has rocked the US and markets around the world. Here's what triggered the stock crash of the start-up focused lender even as CEO Greg Becker urged clients to "stay calm" on a conference call

SVB crisis

SVB, which is one of the prominent lenders for tech companies, announced its public offering of a $1.75-billion share sale on Wednesday to shore up its balance sheet. It liquidated nearly all of the securities in its portfolio that were on the market

How SVB crisis took place

In an investor prospectus, the lender said it needed the fresh capital infusion to plug a $1.8-billion hole caused by the sale of a $21 billion loss-making bond portfolio consisting mostly of US Treasuries

What SVB said

SVB's portfolio was yielding an average 1.79 per cent return, far below the current 10-year Treasury yield of around 3.9 per cent

The tale of SVB's lower
returns

Shares of SVB were down 44% in premarket trading on Friday, after slumping about 60% in the previous session, with investors concerned about the strength of its balance sheet, their worst drop in over 35 years

SVB stock crash

The US markets got rattled post SVB stock crash and the impact is likely to trickle to Indian companies as SVB has invested in several start-ups and businesses across the country

Stock crash rattles markets

Indian matrimonial website Shaadi.com raised an undisclosed amount of funds from SVB in 2006 along with Sequoia Capital and Westbridge Capital. This was one of SVB’s earliest bets in India

One of SVB’s earliest
India bets

SVB has over the years come to be known as a well-known tech investor supporting early-stage start-ups. Bengaluru-based AI company Netradyne raised $65 million in a combination of senior and junior mezzanine financing from SVB in September 2022

SVB's investment in
Bengaluru-based start-up

One of the most prominent Indian start-up deals took place in October 2022 when SaaS unicorn Icertis got $150 million in funding in the form of a revolving credit facility and convertible financing from the bank

SVB’s biggest bet in India

Veteran banker Uday Kotak said that an 'accident' like this was waiting to happen 'somewhere'. "When interest rates move up 500 bps from zero in a year, an accident was waiting to happen somewhere,” Kotak said in a tweet

What Uday Kotak said
about SVB crisis