Very quickly, the alert was launched. The Tanzanian Benjamen Fernandes, head of Nala Money on Twitter recounts his “ nightmare ». « We had most of our money in the SVB. I transferred everything to another bank. An hour later, it was impossible to connect to SVB. »
If there is no precise data: start-ups from countries such as Egypt, Nigeria or South Africa seem to be more concerned. In these countries, the ecosystem of startups is more developed, the use of the dollar more widespread. The investment of their funds in the United States also guarantees security for them against fluctuations in their local currencies.
Other actors are concerned about possible repercussions on the financing of startups in French-speaking Africa. And this while the latter were just beginning to position themselves against the English-speaking giants of the continent. Papa Amadou Sarr is the head of the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship in Senegal. This tech specialist fears that a confusion will quickly be made between the volatility of the financing of the first fundraisers of startups, and the risk of bankruptcy of specialized banks. This would discourage investment.
The Ugandan Ham Serunjogi co-founder of Chipper Cash goes in this direction. In a press release, he came to the defense of the SVB, stressing the importance of this bank in the ecosystem. Today valued at 2 billion dollars, Chipper Cash has however struggled to make its first fundraisers. Only the SVB trusted the startup and thus allowed its launch, he explains.
There is no direct disaster, agree to say various specialists in the sector. However, all eyes are now on the Fed, which has pledged to lend the funds. But when will they be released? Because if startups can operate in the short term, they risk having liquidity problems if the money remains blocked for too long.