The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week sent ripples in startup ecosystems around the world. It is emerging that millions of dollars held by African startups and venture capital funds at the bank were at stake until the U.S. Federal Reserve acted to save the day.
Founders in Africa are now forced to review their banking options. Nala, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused mobile money transfer startup that managed to pull its funds out of SVB before it collapsed, told TechCrunch it’s exploring partnerships with new large corporate banks, while the Pan-African fund Future Africa, which suffered “minimal exposure” also hinted that it was keen on opening an account with a global banking institution.
“We’ve gotten inbound outreach by several banks…but you know banks always like to know a lot of information about companies, their revenue, the amount of cash the company would hold with them, and so on to bring them on board,” said Nala CEO, Benjamin Fernandez.
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