Australian and New Zealand fintech and software companies have listed exposures to the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, ranging from a couple hundred thousand dollars to more than $10 million.
Silicon Valley Bank went into receivership after customers withdrew deposits “to meet their liquidity needs” in a tough economic climate, and the bank was unable to raise funds to stay afloat.
The ASX on Monday morning was littered with announcements from software makers, fintechs and other technology companies on both sides of the Tasman with potential exposure to collapse.
Since then, US regulators have said that all Silicon Valley Bank depositors would be protected.
“Depositors will have access to all their money starting Monday, March 13 [US time],” they said.
Of the local businesses that had declared potential exposure:
nitrosoftware saying [pdf] “approximately US$12.18 million” (A$18.36 million) of its global cash reserves remain on deposit with SVB.
SiteMinder, which makes hotel reservation and management software, said it has “cash holdings of up to A$10 million” potentially affected. “This consists of account cash holdings and advance payments from customers and partners that we may not be able to redirect in time,” she said. [pdf]
life360maker of a family social networking app, said [pdf] its exposure is up to $5.6 million.
xerowhich makes hosted financial software, said [pdf] his exposure is “approximately $5 million dollars,” but he said that’s not a significant amount and less than one percent of his total cash.
sizzlea buy now pay later operator said [pdf] he had US$1.2 million on deposit, less than two percent of his holdings of cash and cash equivalents.
damstraa maker of workforce management software as a service, revealed [pdf] a “lesser relationship” with $175,000 deposited. The coin is not identified.
australian unicorn canvas It is also reported that he has been exposed.
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) said SVB’s collapse “was caused by a particular set of factors, including high exposure to the technology industry.”
“Australia’s banks, by contrast, are strong and subject to a different set of regulatory frameworks,” he said, adding that ABA members “are well diversified and therefore well positioned in case a sector experiences challenging financial circumstances.
The chief executive of the Tech Council of Australia, Kate Pounder, wrote on LinkedIn that her organization “has been working constructively with the Australian government, industry leaders and the Australian Investment Council over the weekend on developments in the situation in the USA”.
“Our preliminary sense is that most local Australian businesses are not directly affected, although we know of a few that have been, and we want to work with them to support them,” he wrote.
