“That’s how capitalism works,” SVB collapse and nutrition and food start-ups take a hit

16 Mar 2023 — Start-ups within the nutrition and food industry have suffered blocked accounts after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest US bank, collapsed on Friday, March 10. Experts suggest this was partly caused by a lack of diversification. The collapse is the second largest bank failure in US history, after the financial crisis in 2008. 

“This poses a major existential threat to many small businesses, especially those creating physical goods. Not having access to working capital severely hampers our ability to create sellable products, manage inventory and keep the lights on,” Vanessa Pham and Kim Pham, co-founders of Omsom, an Asian food start-up that was heavily affected by the collapse, said in a public statement.