Entrepreneur
What the Silicon Valley Bank UK’s HSBC rescue deal could mean for femtech start-ups
The deal stabilised the situation for 3,300 UK customers who had roughly £7bn worth of capital locked up in SVB
British femtech start-ups are breathing a sigh of relief, after the UK government has struck a last-minute deal for HSBC to buy Silicon Valley Bank’s UK operations, saving thousands of tech companies from big losses after the biggest bank failure since 2008.
The deal, securing the deposits of around 3,300 UK customers, cost HSBC £1 and followed talks between Downing Street, the Bank of England and HSBC bosses over the weekend.
Noel Quinn, HSBC Group CEO, said the acquisition made excellent strategic sense, enhancing the group’s ability to serve innovative and fast-growing firms.
Pilar Fernandez Hermida, founder and CEO of the business consultancy platform i-Expand, says: “This quick intervention has stopped a contagion effect.
“The tech sector is very important in the UK and this rescue will protect thousands of jobs and companies. It will not be business as usual, but the damage will be contained.”
According to Politico, SVB’s UK wing oversaw roughly US$7bn in deposits from 3,000 groups — from lowly start-ups to high-flying venture capitalists — across the tech industry.
“The acquisition keeps alive the potential the positive impact innovative life sciences and tech businesses, including in health tech, femtech and medtech, are collectively making in the world,” Dr Poonam Malik, head of investments at the University of Strathclyde and a member of Skills Development Scotland, tells Femtech World.
“All this without a penny of taxpayers’ money being spent against the backdrop of a biggest ‘cost of living crisis’, with no market panic generated and dodging a ‘black swan’ moment in the economy bringing back memories of 2008.”
However, she says a lot of stress and shock has already been absorbed.
“The most immediately affected are individuals [impacted by] payroll disruptions, delays to receiving paychecks and necessary money that could be used for rent or mortgage payments, groceries, childcare and other bills.
“Risk is particularly true for start-ups and is also the case for start-up vendors that may see their invoices running over agreed payment terms.”
Now is the time for founders to change things up to better prepare for the future, say experts.
“A bit more of a ‘reflective practice’ and letting the situation play out is something we need to teach our entrepreneurs more,” explains Malik.
“Opening multiple bank accounts, while may be boring and take time, it will now find entry in the risk register and become routine part of risk mitigation plan for building a company in the future.
“Building companies is hard, but learning from this weekend’s experience and knowing you are doing it with a community of awesome people would make it much easier.
“It will be interesting to see how HSBC, which at its heart is a pretty conservative institution, adapts to this influx of techy, agile and creative set of customers.”
Thomas Panton, founder and CEO of the online platform Canopey, says “it is not all roses”.
Last year, HSBC came under heavy criticism when it was revealed it had invested an estimated US$8.7bn (£6.4bn) into new oil and gas in 2021.
“The most recent IPCC report made it abundantly clear that humans are having an unequivocal impact on the climate,” says Panton.
“Campaigns by organisations like Greenpeace have been pivotal in bringing awareness to these investments and the negative impact they’re having.
“If we don’t take drastic action then not only will we continue to see an increase in human-induced disasters, but also huge amounts of migration, economic fallout and massive biodiversity loss which will have its own knock-on impacts.
“Who we bank with and where we store our money has a massive impact on the climate. Start-ups have a huge power collectively to impact where investment goes and what it is supporting,” he adds.
“By focusing on easy-to-change things like bank accounts, server hosts, electricity providers, we can shift the impact to be more positive than negative.”
Michael Jackson, venture partner at Multiple Capital, says: “The hard truth is start-ups and entrepreneurs don’t always have the liberty to be so picky when choosing their bank.
“If you can, great, but the priority needs to be choosing the bank which provides the most dependable services to your company.”
As the demise of Silicon Valley Bank marked the largest bank failure in the US since the global financial crisis, he says questions need to be asked.
“Regulations need to reviewed and possibly changed. Case in point, in 2018 some provisions of Dodd-Frank were relaxed which specifically eased regs on regional/mid sized banks.
“The CEO of SVB lobbied hard for those changes. That, I think, needs a hard looking at.”
You have until Friday to nominate your femtech company of the year.
The award is one of 10 featuring at Femtech World’s third annual awards event, which attracts entries from across the UK, EU and Europe.
The Company of the Year Award is for companies that have demonstrated exceptional leadership in tackling women’s health needs through groundbreaking products, services or platforms that are shaping the future of global femtech.
If your company is driving innovation, impact and growth in this space, this award was made for you.
About the sponsor: Femovate
The category is backed by Femovate, the global femtech incubator using design to fuel innovation across every stage of a woman’s health journey, from proactive prevention through to personalised treatment.
Femovate has invested over US$2 million in design capital, working side-by-side with founding teams to bring market-ready solutions to life.
The startups it supports have collectively raised US$120 million, launched 30 products, and secured seven FDA clearances.
Why enter?
The Femtech World Awards are free to enter.
Winners and shortlisted companies receive extensive coverage across all Femtech World platforms.
Winners will also receive a trophy and the opportunity to be featured in an interview for the publication.
Find out more about the Femtech World Award and enter here by 4pm BST on Friday 17.
By Chaitra Vedullapalli, founder and president, Women in Cloud
Today’s leaders are carrying more than responsibilities.
They are carrying caregiving roles, financial pressures, legal complexities, and the quiet emotional weight of sustaining performance in unpredictable times.
And yet, most leadership forums still focus on productivity, growth, and scale, rarely addressing the human systems that enable sustained leadership.
At Women in Cloud, we believe the next generation of leadership will not be defined by endurance alone, but by discipline, preparation, and self-respect.
That is why we are proud to announce the #WICxWellness Summit 2026: The Disciplined Advantage.
This is a wellness summit focused on leadership preparedness.
Why This Summit Matters Now
Across our global community, a clear pattern has emerged.
- More professionals and executives are quietly navigating:
- Life-threatening health crises, personally or within their families
- Financial stress caused by medical, caregiving, or business shocks
- Legal and healthcare decisions with long-term consequences
- Career interruptions due to caregiving responsibilities
- Chronic exhaustion, grief, and emotional isolation
These experiences are widespread, yet rarely discussed in executive settings.
#WICxWellness 2026 brings these realities into the open with compassion, clarity, and practical guidance, so leaders can prepare, adapt, and continue forward without breaking.
This is wellness as a leadership discipline.
What We Will Explore
This year’s summit is designed to provide grounded, immediately applicable insights for founders, executives, and senior leaders.
Executive Function Under Chronic Stress
Keynote with Jennifer Brown
Focus Areas:
- Understand how chronic stress alters judgment, focus, and emotional regulation
- Identify early warning signs of cognitive overload in leadership roles
- Adaptability as a Cognitive Anchor: Navigating rapid change without compromising decision-making.
- Resilience Through Connection: Building human-centric teams to mitigate the stress of uncertainty.
- Navigating Change with Emotional Intelligence: Regulating stress responses to maintain clarity and empathy.
- Systemic Agility in High-Pressure Environments: Creating foundations of psychological safety that protect organizational function
Labs That Matter (And What to Do With Them)
Fireside Chat with Chelsey Galipeau and Chaitra Vedullapalli
Focus Areas:
- Which health tests are worth the time and investment
- Interpreting results without panic
- Preventive strategies for executive longevity
- Avoiding unnecessary medical spending
Caretaking Without Collapse
Panel With Karen Fassio, Anca Platon Trifan, Scilla Andreen, Clara Schroeder, Sheena Yap Chan
Focus Areas:
- Managing family and professional demands without burnout
- Setting humane boundaries
- Building sustainable support systems
- Ending silent sacrifice in leadership
Food as a Stability System (Not a Diet)
Fireside Chat with Nancy Watt and Meagan T. Copelin
Focus Areas:
- Nutrition for sustained energy and clarity
- Blood sugar and decision-making
- Realistic eating during travel and stress
- Food as operational resilience
Autoimmunity, Hormones & Cardiac Risk in Real Life
Fireside Chat with Dr. Linda Bing
Focus Areas:
- Managing invisible health risks
- Hormonal transitions and stamina
- Flare prevention at work
- Energy mapping for leadership performance
A Different Kind of Leadership Conversation
At Women in Cloud, we have learned something fundamental:
Performance is visible. Discipline is invisible.
Yet discipline determines whether leaders can serve, build, and lead over decades, not just quarters.
The Disciplined Advantage is about building that resilience intentionally.
Through science, lived experience, and practical frameworks, this summit equips leaders to:
- Anticipate strain instead of reacting to a crisis Design sustainable work rhythms
- Protect cognitive and emotional capital
- Lead from grounded strength
This is leadership infrastructure for the next decade.
Join Us
If you are a founder, executive, technologist, or senior professional navigating complexity and determined to lead well without sacrificing your health, clarity, or longevity, this summit is for you.
The #WICxWellness Summit 2026 is where performance meets preservation. Where ambition meets sustainability. Where leadership becomes truly durable.
We look forward to welcoming you. The Disciplined Advantage begins here.
Secure your spot: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wicxwellness-summit-2026-tickets-1981616382945?aff=oddtdtcreator
Femtech World is continuing the search for a company to be crowned Startup of the Year.
The award is one of 10 to feature at the third annual Femtech World Awards.
The Startup of the Year Award celebrates an early-stage company making a bold impact in women’s health through innovation, vision and execution.
The winning startup will have demonstrated strong potential to transform care, accessibility, or awareness in women’s health with a scalable solution.
Consideration will be given to innovation, market traction, inclusivity, impact and the ability to address unmet needs.
The award is sponsored by Future Fertility.
The company is transforming fertility care with AI-powered solutions that close critical information gaps along the IVF journey.
Its clinically validated, non-invasive tools analyse oocyte images to predict each egg’s reproductive potential, supporting decision-making across key pathways: VIOLET™ for egg freezing, MAGENTA™ for IVF-ICSI, and ROSE™ for donor programmes and egg banks.
These reports deliver personalised insights into egg quality and ploidy potential, empowering patients and clinicians to make more informed decisions regarding next steps.
Today, Future Fertility’s technology is used in more than 300 clinics across 35+ countries.
Developed with the world’s largest oocyte image dataset linked to reproductive outcomes, Future Fertility’s AI models generate quality scores that not only guide treatment planning and manage expectations, but also serve as objective, actionable KPIs for labs—driving improved outcomes and transparency in fertility care worldwide.
The awards are free to enter, with winners receiving a trophy and an interview with Femtech World.
Find out more about the awards and enter for free here.
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