Tech startup guru says failure of Silicon Valley Bank 'extinction-level event'

The CEO of Y Combinator, Garry Tan, called the failure of Silicon Valley Bank an "extinction-level event" for tech startups, according to Marketwatch.

The bank collapsed last week after reporting $1.8 billion in losses, which prompted $42 billion in withdrawal requests, the worst run on a bank in history.

“This is an ‘extinction-level event’ for startups and will set startups and innovation back by 10 years or more. BIG TECH will not care about this. They have cash elsewhere. All little startups, tomorrow’s Google’s and Facebooks, will be extinguished if we don’t find a fix,” Tan said.

Y Combinator has helped launch 4,000 startups during its tenure.

The FDIC has now taken over the bank. The insurance FDIC provides will reimburse depositors up to $250,000 each.

Conservative media has pointed out that SVB has focused on DEI and other woke initiatives in its investments, which may have contributed to the bank's losses.