Building managers at Silicon Valley Bank’s Manhattan branch reportedly called the police Friday morning after a group of tech founders showed up and attempted to pull out their cash.
Police responded after a group of “about a dozen founders” went to SVB’s Manhattan location on Park Avenue, journalist Eric Newcomer said in a Substack post. One of the founders was former Lyft executive Dor Levi, who provided Newcomer with text updates from the scene.
The incident was the latest indication of growing panic among investors linked to tech lender, which warned of a cash crunch this week that sparked a run on the bank.
SVB blocked Levi and others who gathered from entering the building. By around 9:20 a.m. ET, building officials “called the police” and a pair of NYPD vehicles had arrived at the scene.
Levi “said the police were very friendly and instructed one person who didn’t want to leave SVB’s offices that they had to exit the building,” Newcomer wrote.
The officers “just left” afterward, according to Levy.
Levi told Newcomer that he went to the SVB branch after one of the institution’s bankers told him “to go and get a cashier’s check from the New York office if he wanted to move his funds.”
Levi reportedly added that there were “more founders coming every minute” before the police response.
The Park Avenue location is the lone New York-based SVB branch or office listed on the firm’s website.
When reached for comment, the NYPD said it had no updates to share as of around 11:15 a.m. ET.
When The Post attempted to contact the SVB’s Manhattan office, its general phone line rang twice and then disconnected.
SVB representatives did not immediately return a request for comment.
Newcomer said he had spoken to a “major investor who said that about ten of his portfolio companies had pulled out about $1.5 billion collectively from Silicon Valley Bank.”
“The companies put in their requests around 6 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday and got their money this morning,” Newcomer added.
On Friday morning, CNBC reported that SVB was in talks to sell itself after failing in its efforts to raise capital. “Large financial institutions” are reportedly a potential acquisition of SVB Financial, the bank’s parent.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund was among the institutions telling clients to pull their money out of SVB.
Before trading of SVB Financial shares was halted on Friday morning, the stock had plunged more than 60%. That followed a previous 60% plunge in Thursday trading.
Investors scrambled to withdraw their money even as the company’s CEO begged clients to “stay calm” during a conference call on Thursday.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
