The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week sent shockwaves through startup ecosystems around the world, and it has emerged that millions of dollars held by African startups and venture capital funds at the bank were at risk until the United States Federal Reserve intervened to save the day.
Following the bank’s failure, African founders have been forced to reconsider their banking options in order to protect their startups from such events. Nala, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused mobile money transfer startup that was able to withdraw its funds from SVB before it collapsed, told TechCrunch that it is exploring partnerships with new large corporate banks, while the Pan-African fund Future Africa, which suffered “minimal exposure,” also hinted that it was interested in opening an account with a global banking institution.
