'Our exposure to Silicon Valley Bank situation is minimal': Freshworks

Freshworks said its exposure to the current SVB situation is minimal relative to its overall balance sheet

Amid the sudden panic within the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, top SaaS firm Freshworks said that the company has minimal exposure to the current situation.

"We use SVB and several other banks for normal operations (receiving customer payments, processing payroll and payments to our vendors). Our exposure to the current SVB situation is minimal relative to our overall balance sheet," Freshworks said in a statement on March 12.

Freshworks has been a customer of Silicon Valley Bank since its early days. However, as it grew the company diversified into other banks such as Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and UBS.

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In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) stock crash, several Indian Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies with US-based operations were withdrawing funds and transferring them to other global banks and neobanks on the advice of venture capital investors.

Silicon Valley Bank’s parent SVB Financial Group informed the market late on March 8 that it sold about $21 billion of securities from its portfolio, due to which it will have an after-tax loss of $1.8 billion in the first quarter. This triggered a massive sell-off of its shares on Wall Street, triggering panic.
SVB is one of the largest banks in the US and manages many Indian and local clients, according to their website.

Apart from traditional banking services, the company also invests in startups.

Freshworks's latest statement said it is also helping customers and vendors transfer funds to alternate bank accounts.

"We are working with our customers and vendors using SVB account to migrate to alternate bank accounts. We do not foresee any disruption to our employees or customers."