’Ab number aayega inka’: Ashneer Grover takes a dig at VCs after SVB’s collapse

Ashneer Grover, co-founder and former MD of Indian fintech company BharatPe, has taken a dig at venture capitalists (VCs) after the collapse of the US's Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

Grover said, "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".

Grover added that "VC space needed a cleanup for long. Ab number aayega inka (Now their number will come)--too stupid people have made too much easy money in VCs doing nothing".

Responding to Grover, Ajay Kumar, CEO of Coinshell said, "VC job layoff news soon I guess".

Some of the Indian Startups and venture capital firms have exposure to the Silicon Valley Bank. At least six fund managers and startups said that larger worries over the health of the bank have left them scrambling for options outside of SVB.

One person told Mint that many startups (especially SaaS firms) have credit lines and/or deposits with SVB, and almost all SaaS companies with the US presence will have an SVB account.

Tracxn report mentioned that at least 21 Indian startups have exposure in SVB. Startups that have raised funds from SVB include Bluestone, Carwale, InMobi and Loyalty Rewardz. Tracxn data also shows that SVB has not made significant investments in Indian startups after 2011.

Moreover, some of the funds such as Sequoia Capital, Accel, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners, among others have raised capital from the investing arm of SVB- SVB Capital and count the troubled bank as one of its limited partnerships or have used SVB Capital to access LPs.

“In such cases, drawdowns become difficult with the bank likely not to honour a capital call request from the fund," a person told Mint.

A fund receives commitments from its investors but calls for capital as and when there is a deal or investment opportunity. As of 30, June 2022, SVB Capital had assets under management or AUM of around $8.8 billion, its website shows.

California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the United States, was closed on Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation which later appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as its receiver.

The bank served mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies. Nearly half of the US technology and healthcare companies that went public last year after getting early funding from venture capital firms were Silicon Valley Bank customers.

Meanwhile, India's minister of state for information and technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said he would meet the representatives from the country's startup community to protect them from the current crisis due to SVB's failure.

"The SVB Financial closure is certainly disrupting startups across the world. Startups are an important part of India's Economy. I will meet with Indian Startups this week to understand their impact on them and how govt can help during this crisis," the minister tweeted.