London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

‘We can’t make payroll’: tech firms in cash crisis amid Silicon Valley Bank collapse

‘We can’t make payroll’: tech firms in cash crisis amid Silicon Valley Bank collapse

The UK startup ecosystem is under immense strain today after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has prevented scores of startups from accessing the cash to pay staff.
The Bank of England today announced the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank was set to enter insolvency after the demise of its US parent yesterday afternoon.

The Bank said eligible depositors would only be paid out up to the protected limit of £85,000 or up to £170,000 for joint accounts, under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, with the rest of the assets owned by SVB to be distributed by liquidators in due course. The move means many tech firms with large deposits with SVB may be frozen out of their accounts, leaving them without access to the cash needed to fund employee payrolls.

Matt Clifford, co-founder of venture capital business Entrepreneur First, said: “[The] most common phrase in my inbox right now is ‘we can’t make payroll with the insured amount’.”

He told the Standard: ”The core question is just what happens to those who cant’t access to money they need. A bunch of them will not make payroll and a bunch of them will go under.”

“UK government rightly wants Britain to be one of the world’s great tech ecosystems. First priority [is] ensuring that thousands of UK startups make payroll this month,” he said.

“If depositors can’t access funds, the startup ecosystem is decimated.”

Those that have been able to withdraw funds have funnelled cash into other London fintechs like Revolut and Wise. Revolut told the Standard inbound volumes from Silicon Valley Bank were some 16.6 times higher than normal on Thursday, while Friday’s transfers could be higher still.

Fred Destin, founder of London-based venture capital firm Stride, said: “Many startups have had trouble building banking relationships…if you’re a startup you might have all of your cash at SVB.”

Seb Wallace, a venture capital investor at Triple Point, said: “This [collapse] has rammed home a prudent cash management approach and firms have a clear need now to have multiple bank accounts to spread risk.”

Tech firms have reportedly written a petition to chancellor Jeremy Hunt, urging him to act fast to prevent startups becoming insolvent.

“Jeremy Hunt plans to make a speech about how to grow the UK tech ecosystem to make it compete with Silicon Valley,” Clifford said.

“For that to be credible we need to see the current generation of startups make to it to the end of the month.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
×