Good day. As venture-capitalists and startup founders grapple with the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, woes are intensifying for other banks, including First Republic Bank, which does business with many startups and venture firms. In non-SVB related news, the sagging tech market has led hedge fund and venture firm Tiger Global to mark down the value of its investments in private companies across its venture-capital funds last year.

Here are some the big stories in the venture ecosystem:

• Eleven Banks Deposit $30 Billion in First Republic Bank
• Tiger Global Writes Down Venture Funds’ Bets by 33% in 2022
• Easy Loans, Great Service: Why Silicon Valley Loved Silicon Valley Bank

And now on to the news...

Bank to ease deposit rules, some customers say. Startups and investors say the newly created entity that took over from Silicon Valley Bank is offering some flexibility when it comes to deposit requirements for borrowers, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova and Angus Loten report. Silicon Valley Bridge Bank NA in individual instances is easing a provision that startups must keep all of their capital with the bank as part of their loan agreements, borrowers and investors say. The bank is also moving to forgo penalties for borrowers who moved money out of the bank in recent days, in technical violation of their borrowing covenants. 

• “The bank is being super flexible and changing their policy on the percentage of deposits that one needs to have at the bank in order to get a loan. This is a great move by the bank, as everyone would now benefit from diversifying their capital across a number of banks,” said Matt Murphy, partner at Menlo Ventures.

More coverage:

• SVB Collapse Spurs Finance Executives to Re-Evaluate Cash Strategies
• SVB’s Collapse Hits the Chinese Startups It Once Wooed
   

Tiger Global marked down the value of its investments in private companies by about 33% across its venture-capital funds in 2022, according to people familiar with the firm, The Wall Street Journal reports. The markdowns erased $23 billion in value from Tiger’s giant holdings of startups around the globe, one of the people said. Its private portfolio includes big bets on hundreds of companies including TikTok parent ByteDance and payments company Stripe. In the fourth quarter, Tiger’s newest venture funds lost between 9% and 25%. While substantial, the markdowns—including $9 billion in the second half of the year—highlight the lag in private markets compared with similar fast-growing public companies. Tech stocks fell sharply last year, yet large venture-capital investors have so far reported more modest declines.

Microsoft Corp. is infusing its popular workplace software with the technology behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT, upgrading PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook with new abilities in its latest move to try to stay ahead in the artificial-intelligence race, WSJ reports. The software giant has gone all-in on generative AI, following its multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI. In February, Microsoft rolled out a new version of its search engine Bing that used generative AI to give direct answers to questions and had a sophisticated chat tool. It announced Thursday that it is bringing the technology to its Microsoft 365 suite of software to enable users to create presentations, write documents and summarize emails—all from natural-language prompts.

More: Five Things Marketers Should Know About Generative AI in Advertising

Funds

Amboy Street Ventures closed its debut fund at $20 million to make seed and Series A investments in women’s health and sexual health startups. The Los Angeles-based firm’s portfolio includes telehealth abortion services provider Hey Jane, male birth control startup Contraline and vaginal microbiome testing and care startup Evvy.

People

Satellite technology company BeetleSat named Patricio Northland as chief executive. Prior to joining BeetleSat, he held CEO roles at Eutelsat Americas, Satelites Mexicanos and AT&T Latin America.

Mediar Therapeutics Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based fibrosis treatment startup, scored $85 million in Series A funding co-led by Novartis Venture Fund and Sofinnova Partners. Novartis Venture Fund’s Nandita Shangari and Sofinnova’s Maina Bhaman joined the company’s board.

Fairmatic, a commercial auto insurance provider, landed $46 million in Series B funding led by Battery Ventures.

Parker, a New York-based startup offering a charge card for e-commerce companies, secured $31.1 million in Series A financing led by Valar Ventures.

Solarcycle, an Oakland, Calif.-based recycling startup focused on producing sustainable materials for the solar industry, raised $30 million in Series A funding from investors including Fifth Wall.

Corrections & Amplifications: Hedonova, a Los Angeles-based hedge fund, said it hasn’t made an investment in a company called Carbonomy. The WSJ Pro Venture Capital newsletter on March 14 incorrectly reported that a startup called Carbonomy raised $16 million from Hedonova in Series A funding.

• Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and the threat of other troubled banks are “a wake-up call” to financial markets and companies that the Fed’s rate hikes have consequences. It may be a blessing in the disguise of a bank run.
• Tech executives discussed the implications of the SVB collapse in a panel discussion at a CIO Network event.
• It's no longer enough that sustainability chiefs know the technical stuff. They also need to be influencers and transformation leads for their companies.
• Retailers including Walmart and Whole Foods are pushing for lower prices from suppliers, leveraging their buying power now that supply-chain constraints have eased.

• Google Glass is going away, again

• Wave of stealthy China cyberattacks hits U.S., private networks, Google says

• TikTok CEO’s message to Washington: a sale won’t solve security concerns

• Europe unveils clean-tech plans in bid to rival U.S., China

• Drone delivery is about to get real (Axios)
   
• Silicon Valley Bank worked with start-ups others rejected. Now founders are lost (Washington Post)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier and Zachary Cole.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley, Angus Loten, and Marc Vartabedian.

Follow us on Twitter: @wsjvc