SVB rivals benefit from startups seeking new home for funds

A few banks benefited from some startups that withdrew funds from the now-failed Silicon Valley Bank.

The chief executive officer of Mercury, Immad Akhund, tweeted that his "DMs + emails are going a little crazy" and posted a link for those seeking to open an account. The company describes itself as "financial technology company, not a bank," on its website. Its banking services are provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust.

First Republic Bank and Jiko are among other firms that startups, venture capitalists and their backers moved capital to, according to people familiar with the matter.


"We are advising our entire portfolio to have two bank accounts going forward," said Josh Chapman, managing partner at Konvoy Ventures, which backs video-game industry startups among others. One account should be with a large institution like JPMorgan Chase & Co. or Bank of America, and another with a startup-focused bank like First Republic, Mercury or Brex, he said.

Jordi Hays, chief executive officer of Capital, a startup that offers high-yield business checking accounts to startups, said this is "without a doubt the biggest week in our company's history in terms of deposit growth." Capital saw 10 times the amount of deposit volume this week compared with last week and a mid-double-digit increase in overall deposit base, Hays said.