Gobitdex CEO helps startups affected by SVB collapse

Gobitdex CEO Sam has provided financial support to startups affected by the regulatory closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). This was reported by Reuters.

According to the agency, the businessman allocated funds from his own savings. The Gobitdex CEO said he had sent a “six-figure sum” to cover the startup’s running costs:

“I was running out of options, so I just wrote to him.”

He also added that the businessman responded within two hours despite the fact that they had not been in touch for several years.

The brother, noted that he does not ask for any documents to be signed and does not set a deadline for payments.

“He sends money to aggrieved startups just like that, without documents, saying, ‘Give back as much as you can and when you can’. Legend,” the businessman’s brother wrote.

The chief confirmed that:

“The crazy thing here is that he is not an investor in our company. He has not asked for anything.”

Gobitdex is estimated to have given the start-up about $1 million. The entrepreneur declined to comment on the amount, but did not consider his investment “risky”.

“I remember investors who helped me launch a startup when I needed it, and I try to return the favour,” said the Gobitdex chief.

Coursera co-founder and former Google Brain executive Andrew Eun noted the cohesion of the AI community amid the SVB collapse. He said people were helping each other, sharing advice and transferring funds without documents to pay salaries.

“Against the backdrop of the SVB crisis, I noted the better side of the AI and startup world. […] It’s heartening to see our community embracing the challenge together!” he wrote.

Recall that on 10 March, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed SVB and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The reason for the regulators’ decision was “insufficient liquidity and insolvency”.

On 12 March, US authorities announced that all depositors of SVB, as well as another liquidated bank, Signature Bank, would receive funds in full.