Officially joining the Capital of Capital, Silicon Valley Bank is establishing a permanent team of commercial bankers in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood to focus on Miami’s dynamic innovation sector and is actively hiring. This team will focus on early-stage startups, and already works with a number of them.
Silicon Valley Bank has provided commercial banking, private banking and wealth management to technology and life science companies of all sizes and their investors for nearly 40 years, and as its name implies, was a backer of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies. Today it banks roughly half of all venture-backed companies in the US and 63% of all US companies that completed an IPO in the first half of 2021. Its presence is yet another milestone for #MiamiTech, which has seen hundreds of investors and founders move to the city in the past year, establishing new high-profile venture capital offices, establishing or expanding their funds, growing startup teams and, in some cases, relocating their companies here.
“Miami has a vibrant and growing innovation economy with increasing attention from founders, entrepreneurs, established companies and investors outside of Florida that are adding to its momentum,” said Mike Descheneaux, President of Silicon Valley Bank in the announcement.
“In addition to supporting local high-growth companies and investors, our Miami team will also serve as an outpost for our Global Gateway team, which supports companies and investors in emerging innovation centers around the world such as Latin America,” he added.
Julia Figueiredo, Director of Startup Banking and Latin America, will lead the SVB Miami team’s focus on early-stage startups, and Luiz Rabelo, Senior Vice President of Technology Banking, will continue to work with growth-stage technology clients throughout Florida. The team will join the 1441 Brickell Avenue office of Boston Private, the wealth management firm SVB Financial Group acquired earlier this year.
SVB said it already works with several hundred Florida-based technology and life science companies and investors. These include Papa, the healthtech startup focused on the senior-care market, oncology-focused healthtech Carevive Systems, cybersecurity startup Lumu, investment firm Medina Capital, medical robotics startup Neocis, and the smart city-focused Ubicquia, all based in South Florida. SVB also signed on as an eMerge Americas sponsor.
“SVB is a strong supporter of Papa, with a deep understanding of our needs as a high-growth company,” said Andrew Parker, founder and CEO of Papa, a Miami-based company that provides a curated platform of companionship and support for older adults and families, in a statement. “I’m glad for their expansion into Miami, which is a great place to start and scale a business, and I’m excited to see how they’ll further the growth and success of the local innovation economy.”
To be sure, SVB is establishing a presence on Brickell as Miami is experiencing a historic boom of its own, with investors deploying $1.26 billion in the South Florida region in Q1, across 106 deals, according to the eMerge Insights report, based on Pitchbook, Crunchbase and CBInsights data. To date, $1.9 billion has flowed into South Florida companies in 2021, which is on track to be a record-setting year in the tri-county region and in Florida as a whole, according to my preliminary research. What’s more, the region has seen a flood of finance companies and funds setting up shop in the Magic City, what Miami’s mayor calls “The Capital of Capital.”
“I am thrilled to welcome Silicon Valley Bank and its expanded presence to Miami,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, in a statement. “Miami has the potential to become a leading innovation hub and SVB’s presence will help accelerate the success of our local technology and life science companies, from startups to scaled businesses, and their investors.”
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