NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase is using the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to accelerate its push into startup banking, seeking to capture venture-backed companies from their earliest stages through a public listing, March 13, 2026.
The strategy emerged after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, 2023, when customers withdrew $42 billion in deposits in a single day and regulators seized the lender the next morning. The bank had long served as a key financial partner for startups and venture capital firms.
As the crisis unfolded, JPMorgan executives were pulled into urgent discussions with regulators about whether the largest U.S. bank should acquire SVB.
“Jamie looks at me and says, ‘Get on this call,’” Doug Petno, a senior JPMorgan executive, said, recalling how CEO Jamie Dimon asked him to join the discussions while he was attending a retirement party in New York.
JPMorgan ultimately decided not to pursue a takeover. Executives quickly realized that thousands of SVB clients were already moving their accounts.
“We had three years’ worth of incoming clients in a weekend,” Petno said. “Onboarding teams were opening up accounts around the clock.”
The surge convinced JPMorgan leadership that SVB’s collapse had created a major opening in startup banking — a niche market historically dominated by Silicon Valley Bank and newer fintech firms such as Brex, Ramp and Mercury.
“We went to our board and said, ‘there’s a vacuum in the market,’” Petno said. “At that very moment, everybody saw the opportunity.”
JPMorgan’s goal extends beyond replacing a failed competitor. The bank wants to build a full-service platform for startups, offering banking, venture financing, investment banking, IPO advisory and global expansion support as companies grow.
For JPMorgan, which generates more than $180 billion in annual revenue, startup banking also offers access to emerging technologies and closer ties to venture capital investors.
The bank spends roughly $20 billion annually on technology and sees startup clients as a window into innovation in fields such as cybersecurity, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
JPMorgan first launched a startup banking division in 2016 but initially focused on larger, more established startups. Early efforts were limited by digital banking tools that founders viewed as slow and cumbersome.
In venture capital circles, JPMorgan developed a reputation for account-opening processes that sometimes required in-person branch visits.
“They want to go to the website to open an account, and if it’s more than 15 minutes, they’re done,” one venture investor said.
The collapse of SVB accelerated JPMorgan’s expansion plans. The bank hired former SVB executives and expanded its innovation economy team, including recruiting John China, former president of SVB Capital, who now leads the business alongside Andrew Kresse.
JPMorgan also strengthened its position through the April 2023 acquisition of First Republic Bank, a lender that had deep relationships with wealthy founders and venture investors.
The deal helped broaden JPMorgan’s presence across the technology ecosystem and expand its access to venture-backed clients.
The results were immediate. JPMorgan’s startup banking revenue doubled in 2023, and the bank’s client base has since grown to about 12,000 startup companies served by roughly 550 bankers across the United States.
Executives say growth in the segment has been “dramatically higher” than the bank’s core business lines.
Under JPMorgan’s structure, startup founders and venture capital investors are largely served through the private bank, while startup companies fall under the commercial bank. Venture capital funds operate as a separate client segment strengthened by relationships gained through the First Republic deal.
Despite the rapid growth, JPMorgan executives say the bank still needs to improve its digital banking tools to compete with fintech rivals that offer faster online services.
Petno said the bank is working on a new digital platform designed to “leapfrog competitors,” including Mercury, Ramp, Stifel, Customers Bank and SVB, which is now owned by First Citizens Bank.
The broader strategy reflects JPMorgan’s long-term bet that building relationships early with startups will help secure future corporate clients.
Most startups ultimately fail, but the bank hopes that identifying promising companies early will allow it to retain them as they grow.
“Once you’re onboarded, you can never outgrow JPMorgan,” Petno said. “From unicorn all the way to a Magnificent 7.”
For JPMorgan, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank did more than shake the startup ecosystem. It opened a rare opportunity for the nation’s largest bank to expand into one of finance’s most influential markets.