In early March last year, Joey Womack thought he’d secured a sponsorship for his nonprofit Goodie Nation. Silicon Valley Bank, the go-to financial institution for many tech investors and startups, agreed verbally to support his programming for local diverse startup founders.
But hours later, Womack started to hear SVB was in serious trouble. On March 9, 2023, customers withdrew $42 billion after getting spooked by the bank selling bonds at a loss, making it the largest bank run in U.S. history. The next day, U.S. regulators took control of SVB and shut it down. North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank acquired most of SVB a few weeks later.
The bank’s collapse raised questions about what would fill SVB’s role of supporting the Atlanta tech startup community. Though other institutions have tried to make inroads, one year later, it turns out SVB has remained in that role, albeit to a lesser degree.
“[SVB] came back at the end of last year and recommitted,” Womack said in a recent interview. “It wasn’t to the same level, which I expect, but quite honestly I was shocked they even came back in the first place.”
Pause, play
Jaisa Gooden doesn’t think SVB should be called a comeback story. Gooden, the bank’s vice president of startup banking for greater Atlanta, said the bank’s continued presence in the city’s startup community is because she spent a lot of time establishing intentional relationships before and immediately after the failure.
Gooden grew up in Atlanta before going away for college. She came back to the city in 2021 when she took the role with SVB because she wanted “to have influence in shaping what Atlanta’s ecosystem looks like.”
The acquisition by First Citizens Bank didn’t make Gooden stop that work.
“It was more like pause, play,” she said. “It was like everything stopped and then they let us know like, ‘Okay, it’s safe to go again.’”
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