Silicon Valley Bank offices in Israel.
The extent of the damage will soon become clear (Photo: Reuven Castro)
On Thursday in the early afternoon, with the start of trading in New York, correspondence began to run in the WhatsApp groups of high-tech investors, that something bad is happening at "Silicon Valley Bank", the favorite bank of many Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs.
No one yet knew exactly what it was about, but with the drop in the stock, the rumors began to get worse and at seven o'clock in the evening, it was already clear to everyone that the bank was on the verge of collapse and that those who wanted to save their money had to act now.
Lee Moser, managing partner at the venture capital fund AnD Ventures
, which invests in start-up companies in the software field, and for which several tens of millions of the 65 million dollars she raised, was in the bank, was close to the screens and the phone and tried to get information out in every possible way.
When the billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal and the first investors in Facebook, said that the money should be withdrawn from there, according to Moser, a real panic began.
Lee Moser, managing partner at the venture capital fund AnD Ventures (Photo: AnD Ventures)
The stressful hours
"We picked up the phone to our investors, explained that we intended to act immediately and transfer the money to another bank, and they backed us up. It was nerve-wracking. We gave the order and waited. We called the Israeli representation, the European one, the bank in America, and we were under terrible pressure. One of our investors tried to calm us down and
said , that the bank has special and differentiated assets, and shares in the best high-tech companies in the world, so that it will be an attractive investment for traditional banks, which want a foothold in the technological field and have not been able to get it to date, meaning that the buyer will come relatively quickly
. There is a bank account, but there were still not enough profits, if any, so their disclosure is almost non-existent.
During these waiting hours it crossed my mind that we were going to lose the money.
But when you manage money of this magnitude, you face daily pressure, which makes you think analytically.
I was very anxious to see the money go to Israel.
I was out of breath."
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Brinks truck at the entrance of the collapsed bank.
It is estimated that most customers will be able to save a large part of their money (Photo: GettyImages, Justin Sullivan)
Brotherhood of Israelis
"I can say that the camaraderie that exists among Israeli companies saved us. All in all, we are a small and close community that experiences successes and failures together and does a lot of collaborations. Therefore, reaching out to each other was amazing. Capital funds declared that they would support companies in difficulty and banks opened lines of credit. But unfortunately there will be Quite a few companies will close, and others will raise investment much earlier than planned, due to lack of choice.
"Only tomorrow will we know the strength of the blow and we will be smarter.
According to reports we are getting, the bank has more assets than deposits, so it looks like people will get most of their money.
It will be a process, not overnight.
There are already companies that do not know how they will be able to pay wages to their employees, because they are talking about releasing between 50% and 60% of the money in the first stage and it is clear that part of it will not return.
"Six hours passed until we saw our money in Israel. The first thing I called the major investors of the fund, I reassured them that everything was fine and we celebrated this small victory together. Only then, around two in the morning, did I go outside for a moment and finally breathe."
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Silicon Valley
venture capital fund
High tech
start up
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