Ashneer Grover, co-founder and former MD of Indian fintech company BharatPe, reacted to the collapse of the California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and took a dig at venture capitalists (VCs). His reaction came after the 16th largest bank in the United States saw a stunning collapse and was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on Friday.
Shark Tank India fame Ashneer Grover tweeted, “Eager to see how many VCs lose their jobs (yes they do jobs – are not founders and it’s not their own money that they deploy) in the aftermath of SVB. VC space needed a cleanup for long. Ab number aayega inka – too stupid people have made too much easy money in VCs doing nothing.
Ajay Kumar, CEO of Coinshell, responded to Ashneer Grover and said, “VC job layoff news soon I guess”.
Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Silicon Valley Bank, whose website says it is “the financial partner of the innovation economy,” collapsed after a stunning 48 hours in which a bank run and a capital crisis led to the second-largest failure of a financial institution in US history. It’s decline stems partly from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes over the past year.
After years of interest rates hovering around zero, the central bank last spring began a series of historic rate hikes to make borrowing for businesses and individuals more expensive — a way to cool the economy and bring inflation in line. Silicon Valley Bank is the first FDIC-insured institution to fail this year. The last FDIC-insured institution to close was Almena State Bank, Almena, Kansas, on October 23, 2020.
Silicon Valley Bank has over 37,000 small businesses with more than $250,000 in deposits, according to the data of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).
