Founders Fund and Silicon Valley Bank - Axios

web

Axios·axios.com/2023/03/14/founders-fund-run-silicon-valley-bank

Credibility Rating

3/5

Good(3)

Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.

Rating inherited from publication venue: Axios

Tangentially relevant to AI safety as background on the SVB collapse, which affected many AI startups and VC firms operating in the AI ecosystem; not directly about AI safety topics.

Metadata

Importance: 18/100news articlenews

Summary

This Axios article details how Founders Fund's risk-management decision to move capital out of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023 contributed to a historic bank run resulting in $42 billion in withdrawals. The piece examines the sequence of events, internal decision-making at Founders Fund, and the subsequent criticism from other venture capitalists who accused the firm of deliberately triggering the crisis.

Key Points

•Founders Fund operations executives moved firm capital to larger banks Thursday morning after SVB's share sale announcement, without involvement from Peter Thiel.
•The firm then advised portfolio companies to move money out of SVB, spreading widely and amplifying an already growing panic.
•Founders Fund had just initiated a capital call days earlier, wiring LP funds directly into its SVB account.
•Other VCs accused Founders Fund of intentionally triggering the bank run, though the firm maintained it was purely risk management.
•SVB ultimately saw $42 billion in withdrawals, making it one of the largest bank runs in US history.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
Founders Fund	Organization	50.0

Cached Content Preview

HTTP 200Fetched Apr 7, 202617 KB

The story behind Founders Fund and the run on Silicon Valley Bank

 

 
 
 
 

 Feb
 MAR
 Apr
 

 
 

 
 13
 
 

 
 

 2025
 2026
 2027
 

 
 
 

 

 

 
 
success

 
fail

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 About this capture
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
COLLECTED BY

 

 

 
 
Collection: Save Page Now Outlinks

 

 

 

 

 
TIMESTAMPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/2023/03/14/founders-fund-run-silicon-valley-bank

 

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 p-1.5" href="#main-content">Skip to main content

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 p-3 bg-primary" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/">

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 hsub-utility-010 lg:hover:bg-nav-hover py-2 px-3 rounded-xs text-sm !leading-[20px] rounded-none" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/newsletters">Newsletters

Axios Local

Show

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 hsub-utility-010 lg:hover:bg-nav-hover py-2 px-3 rounded-xs text-sm !leading-[20px] rounded-none" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals">Axios Pro

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 hsub-utility-010 lg:hover:bg-nav-hover py-2 px-3 rounded-xs text-sm !leading-[20px] rounded-none" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/events">Axios Live

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 hsub-utility-010 lg:hover:bg-nav-hover py-2 px-3 rounded-xs text-sm !leading-[20px] rounded-none" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/the-axios-show">The Axios Show
Login

Axios

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/results">

All topics

Axios 

Search

Mar 14, 2023 - .icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 gtmContentClick !inline ml-0.5 hover:underline focus:underline" data-vars-content-id="793f84f1-f0ae-4068-87d1-a41265752d74" data-vars-headline="The story behind Founders Fund and the run on Silicon Valley Bank" data-vars-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="topic" data-vars-label="Economy" data-vars-deprecated-params="[object Object]" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/economy" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/economy">Economy

The story behind Founders Fund and the run on Silicon Valley Bank

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 gtmContentClick" data-vars-content-id="793f84f1-f0ae-4068-87d1-a41265752d74" data-vars-headline="The story behind Founders Fund and the run on Silicon Valley Bank" data-vars-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-label="Dan Primack" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/authors/danprimack" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260313000741/https://www.axios.com/authors/danprimack">Dan Primack

.icon+span]:ml-2 [&>span+.icon]:ml-2 disabled:bg-white disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:

... (truncated, 17 KB total)

Resource ID: 1a556fd9ea9a43a0 | Stable ID: sid_nHoF4PpUdK