The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank: How Did It Happen and Could It Have Been Avoided?

After the 2008 financial crisis, the federal government passed the Dodd-Frank Act to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end "too big to fail," to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other purposes. Fifteen years later, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank threatened to destroy the innovation economy and forced Federal Agencies to act in an unprecedented way.

The Webinar will focus on the role of Silicon Valley Bank in a critical growth sector of the US economy, its banking risks, and decisions that led to SVB's collapse. It will also discuss government actions, learnings, and potential actions to reduce similar risks.

Speaker: Sven Weber, P’24, Managing Principal

Sven joined Knightsbridge in 2018 from SharesPost where he was Managing Director of SharesPost’s Investment Advisor and President of the public Private Shares Fund (PRIVX), a primary and secondary late stage direct investment fund. In his tenure, he invested in over 60 of some of the most prominent venture capital-backed companies, including Lyft, Uber, DocuSign and Spotify.

Prior to this role, Sven was President of SVB Capital at Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB) managing $1.5 billion in venture capital fund of fund and direct investment assets which included commitments to key venture capital funds and its leading portfolio companies. Earlier in his career he worked for the secondary firm Cipio Partners and for the early stage investment arm of Siemens. Sven started his career in the 1990’s launching an Internet Service Provider for O2 Germany.

Sven holds a Masters in Physics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He moved to the United States in 2002 and is a dual US and German citizen. Sven is a parent of a current Obie.

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