SVB collapse unlikely to hit fundraising for Southeast Asia startups: VCs
SANTA CLARA, CA, US – MARCH 13: People today hold out outdoors the Silicon Valley Lender headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, to withdraw funds soon after the federal govt intervened upon the bank’s collapse, on March 13, 2023. (Image by Nikolas Liepins/Anadolu Agency via Getty Photos)
Nikolas Liepins | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The collapse of U.S.-primarily based Silicon Valley Bank is unlikely to hit fundraising for tech startups in Southeast Asia, venture capitalists and an analyst informed CNBC.
The lender served quite a few venture capital companies and undertaking funds-backed startups. But last week, depositors rushed to withdraw their resources as panic in excess of the bank’s fiscal condition unfold, producing it to collapse.
“I think [the impact on fundraising is] a look at out, but I don’t think that contagion spreads,” mentioned David Gowdey, managing partner at Southeast Asian undertaking capital company Jungle Ventures, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday.
“I feel Secretary Yellen and the authorities did a wonderful career of stepping in and having absent a ton of that danger, making a good deal of balance in the marketplaces,” he reported. On Sunday, U.S. officials including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared plans to backstop depositors of the bank.
Gowdey claimed SVB was the firm’s key bank, but added, “We pull a lot of that money into Southeast Asia, into Singapore banks. And so for us, the exposure to SVB was not massive.”
Golden Gate Ventures, which also invests in Southeast Asian startups, said the SVB fallout is an prospect for the area.
“This has really been useful to Southeast Asia. It now appears like a golden baby to U.S. traders. Buyers are starting to say: I want to diversify to diverse lender accounts, unique geographies, unique currencies,” Vinnie Lauria, controlling lover at Golden Gate Ventures, told CNBC’s “Avenue Signs Asia” on Tuesday.
“And this is wherever Southeast Asia has the time to glow, in gentle of the predicament,” additional Lauria.
When requested if the problem will make fundraising far more tricky, Gowdey explained funds in Southeast Asia are nicely capitalized.
“I think it truly is being selective simply because of the macro surroundings. [Accessing] the cash will get more challenging, but the funds is there and it is having deployed,” reported Gowdey.
VC firms earlier instructed CNBC that financial uncertainties have created them pickier with investments in 2023.
“[In terms of] obtain to money to tech business people, the VCs will nonetheless be capable to fund them,” Ray Wang, founder and chairman of Silicon Valley-dependent Constellation Analysis, advised CNBC’s “Road Signals Asia” on Tuesday.
“But it is really the problem about using financial institution financial loans, acquiring operating funds, remaining equipped to truly operate functions and obtaining a bank that understands how a engineering enterprise is effective or biotech business is effective. That is genuinely what’s currently being shed below,” additional Wang.
