The latest on Silicon Valley Bank's stunning collapse

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank continues to shake the tech world. Here’s the latest on what’s shaping up to be an extraordinarily high-stakes story for startups, investors, the tech industry, and potentially the broader economy.

• More details are emerging about the factors that led to SVB’s failure. In an order Friday taking possession of the bank, California financial regulators said investors and depositors withdrew $42 billion in deposits on Thursday, leaving the bank with a negative cash balance of $958 million.

• The key question now for many startup founders: how will they make payroll next week? The FDIC, which is overseeing the bank in receivership, says insured depositors will have full access to their deposits Monday. But the government only insures accounts up to $250,000 — and most of SVB’s deposits are above that limit.

• GeekWire’s reporting suggests that the percentage of tech startups in the Seattle area that used Silicon Valley Bank was as much as 80% or more of the venture-backed companies in the region — significantly higher than the national average of 50%.

• GeekWire co-founder John Cook, who has covered startups and venture capital since before the dot-com bust, calls this an “absolute meltdown,” the likes of which he hasn’t seen before. For more, listen to this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast.

• With that as backdrop, many are pinning their hopes on another bank assuming Silicon Valley Bank’s assets and guaranteeing deposits. The government takeover and subsequent acquisition of Washington Mutual by JPMorgan Chase in 2008 could serve as a blueprint. Read more.

How is the SVB collapse impacting you? Email us at tips@geekwire.com.

Follow our special coverage of this developing story. 

Washington raised $300 million in its first auction of pollution permits in an effort to shrink the state's carbon footprint. 

• The bidders were primarily fossil fuel refineries and utilities. The funds will go to projects supporting the transition to clean energy across the economy. Read more.

The controversy over tracking Elon Musk’s jet, the Southwest Airlines meltdown, the James Webb Telescope, and innovations in electric vertical takeoff and landing.

• That’s the range of stories readers can expect from Hype Aviation, a news aggregation site for aviation, space, and defense news.

• We talked with the team behind the site on a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast. Read more and listen here, or subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

There’s no dancing around the seriousness of the homelessness crisis in Seattle. But a group of notable personalities in the city, including Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky, will do their best to use dance to raise money to help combat the issue.

• Selipsky is taking part in “Seattle Dances,” an annual event put on by Plymouth Housing, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing permanent supportive housing for adults experiencing chronic homelessness in Washington state. Read more.