Indian startups withdraw up to $300 mn from SVB

WITH THE US allowing depositors to withdraw their cash in full from crisis-hit Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Indian startups have been able to process fund transfers worth $250300 million in the past 24 hours, industry sources told FE. On an average, early-stage startups had cash balances of up to $2-3 million in US bank accounts, while larger startups had cash of around $20-25 million lying in SVB accounts, several founders and VCs said.

- SALMAN SH

Industry players said that for funds transfer, firms need to first open new business bank accounts in the US as SVB still hasn't resumed direct foreign transfers.

"All our portfolio companies banking with SVB have been able to move 100% of their money to other US-based banks. Cross-border transfers are not yet happening, but our portfolio companies are moving cash from SVB to another US Bank and then from there to India," said Sanjay Swamy, managing partner at Prime Venture Partners. He said that for Indian startups, where a founder has a US social security number, a new bank account in the US can be opened faster within 24 hours. For others, opening a US bank account could take up to five days or more.