The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

YC CEO Garry Tan. Photo: Bloomberg.

Y Combinator to End Late-Stage Startup Fund, Lays Off Staff

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Mar 13, 2023 1:27pm PDT · 1 comment

Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator won’t raise another continuity fund, which backs mature private tech companies, two people familiar with the matter said. The partners who led the fund, Anu Hariharan and Ali Rowghani, plan to leave the firm, the two people said. The pair plan to set up a fund together, one of the people... Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator won’t raise another continuity fund, which...

Signature Bank's headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Crypto’s 24/7 Trading Disrupted By Bank Crisis

By Aidan Ryan and Akash Pasricha · Mar 13, 2023 8:56am PDT

Crypto in many ways used to be a 24/7 market, but the escalating crisis among a set of small U.S. banks has upended that. Regulators’ abrupt closure Sunday of Signature Bank following Silvergate’s shuttering last week knocked out the two biggest crypto-friendly banks and also means the round-the-clock payment systems both offered... Crypto in many ways used to be a 24/7 market, but the escalating crisis among a set of small U.S....

Photo by Shutterstock

Why the Worst-Case Scenarios of SVB Fallout Are Unlikely

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2023 3:15pm PDT

What a weekend! The term “everything everywhere all at once” seems a better description for the turmoil sparked by Friday’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank than for an incomprehensible movie that’s up for an Oscar tonight. The good news is that the worst-case scenarios some on Twitter were broadcasting the past few days seem increasingly... What a weekend! The term “everything everywhere all at once” seems a better description for the...

Photo by Bloomberg.

VC Firms Push for Relief to Avoid SVB-Linked Furloughs

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Mar 12, 2023 2:53pm PDT · 6 comments

Photo by Bloomberg.

VC Firms Push for Relief to Avoid SVB-Linked Furloughs

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Mar 12, 2023 2:53pm PDT · 6 comments

The influential investors that back startups pushed for government action and took other emergency measures Sunday to avoid the growing threat of furloughs if startups with money tied up at Silicon Valley Bank can’t meet payroll this week. As the government auctioned Silicon Valley Bank’s assets, some lobbied lawmakers to suspend the... The influential investors that back startups pushed for government action and took other...

On Investor Day on March 1, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was giving up on nickel batteries for all but very long-range cars and trucks. Photo: Courtesy Tesla

The Electric: The Race to Make a Better Iron-Based Battery

By Steve LeVine · Mar 12, 2023 2:00pm PDT

Until 2020, Tesla only used batteries with nickel-based cathodes. Then the company began to equip some Model 3s it sold in China with an iron-based chemistry called lithium-iron-phosphate. Industry hands derided LFP as a cheap alternative that offered limited range—good only for entry-level economy cars. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk saw LFP as his... Until 2020, Tesla only used batteries with nickel-based cathodes. Then the company began to equip...

The Silicon Valley Bank office in New York. Photo via Bloomberg.

U.S. to Backstop All SVB Deposits; Regional Banks Look Likely to Prevail in Sale

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Mar 12, 2023 11:23am PDT · 10 comments

The U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Sunday they would fully backstop the deposits of Silicon Valley Bank. Meanwhile, people familiar with the matter said regional banks are the likeliest bidders to prevail in the sale process for SVB, as the FDIC sorts through the wreckage of the failed bank. Treasury... The U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Sunday they would...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Wall Street Firm Pounces on SVB Implosion With Offer to Buy Deposit Claims

By Maria Heeter · Mar 11, 2023 12:19pm PST · 9 comments

At least one Wall Street firm is sensing an opportunity in the panic around failed Silicon Valley Bank. Traders from Jefferies are contacting startup founders with money stuck at the bank, offering to buy their deposit claims at a discount, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. The firm is offering at least 70 cents on... At least one Wall Street firm is sensing an opportunity in the panic around failed Silicon Valley...

Jeremy Allaire, chief executive of Circle Internet Financial Inc. Photo by Bloomberg.

One of Crypto’s Last Safe Havens Is Spiraling After Silicon Valley Bank Implosion

By Aidan Ryan and Akash Pasricha · Mar 11, 2023 10:48am PST · 2 comments

Jeremy Allaire, chief executive of Circle Internet Financial Inc. Photo by Bloomberg.

One of Crypto’s Last Safe Havens Is Spiraling After Silicon Valley Bank Implosion

By Aidan Ryan and Akash Pasricha · Mar 11, 2023 10:48am PST · 2 comments

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is sending shockwaves through a key piece of the crypto industry’s financial plumbing. The price of stablecoin USDC tumbled at one point lower than 88 cents Saturday morning, below its theoretical $1 peg, after its issuer, Circle, disclosed it has billions in cash on deposit at failed Silicon Valley... Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is sending shockwaves through a key piece of the crypto...

How to Run a Modern Media Company: Bank Crash Edition

How to Run a Modern Media Company: Bank Crash Edition

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 11, 2023 7:17am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!I do not envy news media executives, who have difficult jobs in the best of times. This week was not the best of times, as our CEO Jessica Lessin could tell you. While captaining a newsroom going full-throttle to cover the cataclysmic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Jessica was also scrambling to ensure that The... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!I do not envy news media executives, who have difficult jobs in the...

Art by Clark Miller.

Market Research

The Starlink Exit Plan: How SpaceX’s Satellites Are Bringing Remote Workers to the Wilderness

By Tim Stevens · Mar 11, 2023 7:00am PST · 7 comments

The promise of Starlink is simple: You, city dweller, dream of holing up in a cabin, sailing the high seas or vagabonding across the country in an RV. But you’re still going to need an internet connection. Enter Starlink, the satellite internet provider operated by SpaceX that will beam high-speed internet down to you whether you’re... The promise of Starlink is simple: You, city dweller, dream of holing up in a cabin, sailing the...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Shuo Wang Once Sold Scooters at Flea Markets—Now Her Startup Is Worth $12 Billion

By Annie Goldsmith · Mar 11, 2023 7:00am PST · 2 comments

When Shuo Wang was 16, she got her first sales job and learned what she considers the biggest lesson in business. Despite not speaking English well, Wang sold scooters at flea markets in and around Washington, D.C., an offshoot of her mother’s business of selling motorcycles and scooters wholesale. Decades later, Wang attributes many of... When Shuo Wang was 16, she got her first sales job and learned what she considers the biggest...

Photo of Kopit Levien by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images. Photo-illustration by Clark Miller

The News Business Is in Crisis—but Not The New York Times Co.

By Abram Brown · Mar 11, 2023 6:00am PST · 9 comments

Photo of Kopit Levien by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images. Photo-illustration by Clark Miller

The News Business Is in Crisis—but Not The New York Times Co.

By Abram Brown · Mar 11, 2023 6:00am PST · 9 comments

Meredith Kopit Levien exists in a perpetual yo-yo motion. Most weeks, the CEO of The New York Times Co. spends three days in New York—“sometimes more if needed”—where a pied-à-terre gives her easy access to the company’s landmark Eighth Avenue headquarters. The rest of the time she spends in Washington, D.C.,... Meredith Kopit Levien exists in a perpetual yo-yo motion. Most weeks, the CEO of The New York...

People line up outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters on March 10 in Santa Clara, Calif. Photo by Getty.

The Final Breaths of Silicon Valley Bank

By Michael Roddan, Lauren Tara LaCapra and Kate Clark · Mar 11, 2023 5:30am PST · 16 comments

Silicon Valley Bank wasn't just a bank—it was a central artery in the venture capital circulatory system. VC firms recruiting new partners would tell them SVB could set them up with a mortgage in a day. The bank wined and dined the industry in Napa. It sponsored numerous events across the Valley. While other banks that routinely... Silicon Valley Bank wasn't just a bank—it was a central artery in the venture capital...

People walk past a Silicon Valley Bank sign at the company's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, March 10, 2023.

Startups Seek to Raise Emergency Cash from VC Firms, Secondary Sales

By Kate Clark and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 6:41pm PST · 1 comment

As the weekend approached, startup founders with money stuck in Silicon Valley Bank raced to sell secondary shares and enter financing deals to meet payroll and other needs, a sign of the desperate dash for funds set off by the abrupt collapse of the tech-centric bank. Many startup founders on Friday signed up for new loans based on the future... As the weekend approached, startup founders with money stuck in Silicon Valley Bank raced to sell...

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday March 10. Photo by Bloomberg

Q&A

Bank Execs on SVB Fallout: ‘2,000 Times Better If a Buyer Comes In’ This Weekend

By Amir Efrati · Mar 10, 2023 3:38pm PST · 8 comments

Thousands of businesses and investors are panicking after federal regulators on Friday froze their assets at Silicon Valley Bank in what was the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. From publicly-traded firms like Roku to privately-held startups like Shield AI, many SVB customers are girding for problems or scrambling to ensure they can... Thousands of businesses and investors are panicking after federal regulators on Friday froze...

An SVB Financial Group chart displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Friday, March 10, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Startups and VCs Scramble to Pay Employees After SVB’s Collapse

By Kate Clark, Cory Weinberg, Aaron Holmes and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 12:21pm PST · 6 comments

An SVB Financial Group chart displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Friday, March 10, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Startups and VCs Scramble to Pay Employees After SVB’s Collapse

By Kate Clark, Cory Weinberg, Aaron Holmes and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 12:21pm PST · 6 comments

The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sowed panic at hundreds of startups and venture capital firms that banked there and now must seek new ways to pay employees and access funds from their investors and customers. Founders and VC firms, which also kept billions of dollars worth of assets with SVB, on Friday rushed to figure out whether... The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sowed panic at hundreds of startups and venture...

Art by Clark Miller

Scene and Heard

‘Your Dreams Are No Longer Safe’: The Washington Crowd Gets an Alarming Crash Course in AI

By Nancy Scola · Mar 10, 2023 9:00am PST · 5 comments

Frank Luntz, the famed Republican pollster and communications guru, stood in awe listening to himself. “It sounds like I had a stroke,” Luntz called out from the back of a banquet room at the National Press Club on a blustery evening in downtown Washington. He and around 100 other attendees at the invitation-only gathering were... Frank Luntz, the famed Republican pollster and communications guru, stood in awe listening to...

The Pro Weekly: Why Software Vendors Are Moving to the Cloud

The Pro Weekly: Why Software Vendors Are Moving to the Cloud

By Scott Thurm · Mar 10, 2023 8:00am PST · 1 comment

This week, we added 11 companies to the Cloud Database, bringing the total to 76. Collectively, those companies spend more than $13 billion annually on cloud computing services, most of that at Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. All 11 of the newly added companies use AWS for at least part of their cloud needs. The... This week, we added 11 companies to the Cloud Database, bringing the total to 76. Collectively,...

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley Bank Fails After No Buyer Emerges. What Happens Next?

By Lauren Tara LaCapra, Michael Roddan and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 7:03am PST · 10 comments

Silicon Valley Bank failed on Friday after it couldn't find a buyer, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. taking over its assets and liabilities, sending shivers through the startup world. The failure came after a tense period during which many of SVB's customers fled as the bank frantically tried to raise capital to... Silicon Valley Bank failed on Friday after it couldn't find a buyer, with the Federal Deposit...

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Photo by Bloomberg

Silicon Valley Bank’s Troubles Threaten a Key Bridge Between Chinese Startups and U.S. Investors

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Mar 10, 2023 5:42am PST

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Photo by Bloomberg

Silicon Valley Bank’s Troubles Threaten a Key Bridge Between Chinese Startups and U.S. Investors

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Mar 10, 2023 5:42am PST

The panic over the status of Silicon Valley Bank intensified on Friday, as the stock of SVB’s parent fell another 66% in pre-trading hours. Meanwhile, anxieties spread to China overnight, prompting local venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to follow their U.S. counterparts and look for alternative banks for their U.S. dollar holdings. ... The panic over the status of Silicon Valley Bank intensified on Friday, as the stock of...