UK tech firms breathed a collective sigh of relief on Monday after a rescue of Silicon Valley Bank’s British arm was announced, amid fears that failure to broker a deal would have plunged the industry into an immediate crisis.
Industry insiders said a WhatsApp group called “save UK tech” was hastily assembled over the weekend as the sector attempted to stave off the threat of financial problems swamping tech firms as soon as Monday. A crisis was averted when the government helped to broker the acquisition of SVB’s UK operations by HSBC for £1 in a deal announced on Monday morning.
