Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) announced that it has been granted a licence in Canada from the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and has opened its Canadian headquarters in Toronto. SVB may now provide in-market commercial financing solutions to private and public technology and life science companies and their investors across Canada.
“SVB’s official entrance into Canada is another sign that our technology ecosystem is growing quickly,” said Andrew Graham, Co-Founder and CEO of Borrowell, a fintech company and SVB client based in Toronto. “They have worked with many of the world's most successful technology companies and have a deep understanding of high-growth innovation companies across life-stages. SVB’s support has been extremely helpful to us as we've scaled our business.”
Silicon Valley Bank, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is dedicated to supporting the global innovation economy and has focused on helping address the unique needs of entrepreneurs, companies and investors in the technology and life science sectors for more than 35 years. SVB has served the Canadian market on a cross-border basis since 2000 via its US operations, supporting clients such as Drop, HLS Therapeutics, Shopify, SnapTravel and Vanedge Capital with a range of specialized financial services. Silicon Valley Bank is the lender of choice for startups seeking debt financing in Canada, according to The Logic. The Bank works with companies around the world through offices across the US and in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Israel and China.
“Canada has a thriving innovation sector and we’re excited to be a catalyst for its continued growth,” said Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. “The Canadian banking licence is a significant milestone in our global expansion. The growing team there is well-positioned to execute on SVB’s mission to help innovative companies and their investors be even more successful.”
Venture capital funding in Canada hit a record high in 2018, with $3.5 billion USD invested through more than 471 deals, according to the MoneyTree Canada report by PwC Canada and CB Insights. Toronto was named North America’s fastest growing tech market by CBRE for the second year in a row in 2018, mainly due to the city’s tech talent employment base growing by the largest number of workers in 2017 with 28,900 tech jobs added.
“Building on SVB’s longstanding track record of supporting technology companies in the US, we are excited to help Canada’s entrepreneurs grow and scale,” said Barbara Dirks, Head of Canada at Silicon Valley Bank. “Our clients appreciate the partnership with us and our highly specialized approach, fast pace, industry expertise and global network.”
With approval from the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Silicon Valley Bank may immediately commence lending to technology, life science, private equity and venture capital companies across Canada from its new base in Toronto. The bank provides additional cross-border banking services to Canadian companies that have or seek a US presence. Please visit svb.com/canada for more information.