- For over 40 years, SVB’s industry knowledge, ecosystem connections and flexible solutions have helped startups at every stage of growth.
- We can help founders fine-tune their pitch and network with investors.
- Even after raising a Series A, we offer guidance, products and services to help our clients achieve their next funding milestone.
SVB’s expertise: Your roadmap to success
The jump from seed funding to a Series A round brings growing pains that can make or break any startup. At that pivotal moment as a founder, you face difficult questions about expanding your client base, proving traction to investors and preserving runway while building for the future.
As you navigate this challenging phase of your startup’s journey, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, offers a proven roadmap based on our extensive expertise serving the innovation economy. Having supported thousands of startups from seed to IPO, we understand your unique needs. From personalized guidance, deep sector experience and tailored fundraising workshops, we can provide the necessary resources to help you achieve your next milestone.
For over 40 years, our bank’s industry knowledge, ecosystem connections and flexible solutions have helped startups, like yours, with the advantage needed at every stage of growth. After raising initial funds through friends and family, angels or seed investors, you need to present the right metrics to secure an institutional round from Series A investors as well as corporate partners or paid pilots.
Preparing for your Series A pitch
We can help you recognize and emphasize the key markers demonstrating traction in a robust company: product market fit, unit economics, sales quality, average order volume, consumer data, an upward-trending ARR and client testimonials. Our professional team, well-versed in both traditional metrics and emerging industry trends, helps ensure you're ahead of the curve. We also offer curated discounted deals with an array of vendors to put cash back in your pocket as you build out your tech stack and enhance your operations. This forms part of our comprehensive ecosystem support, designed to nurture your growth at every stage.
As you prepare for that life-changing pitch to investors, we work on the human side of business, too. We are mindful that persuading investors of your unique ability to execute on your vision also depends on whether your startup is a good fit for the investor's interests and values.
We can help prepare you to be confident in front of investors, help you fine-tune your presentation and delivery as well as help provide you with knowledge from fundraising workshops. For example, during our workshops you can familiarize yourself with the state of the market and gain perspective on making the leap to Series A.
To illustrate how our expertise and network can make a real difference for startups preparing for Series A, consider the Patlytics story. With SVB as a go-to-market partner, Patlytics, a patent defense technology startup, landed $4.75M in seed funding by leveraging the SVB network. By doing so, they were able to convert to a Series A and increase their revenue, create steady onboarding of new customers and add more clients.
“We leverage SVB’s network with other funds to arrange more bespoke intros for our clients, instead of going for sheer quantity,” says Bo Ren, Managing Director, SVB Startup Banking. “For us, helping founders go from seed to Series A is about engineering serendipity, so that they’re in the room with the right investors, organically creating a space to meet and pitch rather than taking a spray-and-pray strategy. We’re in the market-making position of facilitating.”
Comprehensive support beyond funding
For startups approaching their Series A, we offer a suite of digital solutions and personal wealth services. Whether setting up a money market account with an industry-competitive interest rate, strategizing on separating personal and company finances or taking advantage of private stock, we empower founders to make informed decisions that support their company’s growth and their personal financial goals. Additionally, our relationship managers are available for one-on-one advisory on founder-specific concerns, like strategizing to accommodate new board dynamics while retaining control and structuring wealth.
Our support doesn’t end after a Series A has been secured. We ensure that more money doesn’t mean more problems; we offer guidance on expense management, corporate cards, spending caps, employee equity and benefit packages. If you need an infusion of capital to extend your runway between institutional rounds of funding, we also offer venture debt solutions. With minimal dilution to your cap table, venture debt can serve as a significant extension of an equity round, freeing up the flexibility to make an important hire, wait out down rounds from the market or power through to a Series B and beyond.
Final thoughts
The average incubation period for a startup is between 1 to 2 years and often runs longer. That means you don't have much time to waste. You need a dependable financial partner you can rely on for good advice. Let us bring our extensive experience to help you build a successful business.
This article was originally published on TechCrunch.
