UK tech groups cheer SVB rescue deal for saving thousands of ‘anxious’ start-ups

One tech leader said that about a third of the UK’s tech sector could have been lost if Silicon Valley Bank was not rescued.

People walk past a Silicon Valley Bank sign at the company’s headquarters in California (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

UK technology firms have cheered the sale of Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVB UK) to HSBC after warning that about a third of the nation’s tech sector could have been lost if the bank collapsed.

An influential tech group said anxiety levels were “off the scale” for many start-ups in the hours of intense negotiations leading up to the rescue deal.

Russ Shaw, the founder of Tech London Advocates, told the PA news agency that well over 100 tech leaders and investors were working with the Government, the Treasury, the Bank of England and tech firms over the weekend to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem.