Banks up and a big development coming to the East Bay?
San Francisco Business Times
The San Francisco region's source for local business news & events. Part of the American City Business Journals network.
FBI raids, airport runways reopening and tax measures cut from ballots, it's just another week in Bay Area business.
Here's a breakdown of the week's biggest stories.
First Citizens the big winner from SVB rescue
A year since its collapse Silicon Valley Bank is back, chasing the lucrative business of servicing startups. And its big news for rescuer, First Citizens Bank, whose shares have almost tripled since acquiring SVB back in March 2023 and rocketed back into the Fortune 500.
The secret? Not changing anything.
New bank players coming to Silicon Valley
Customers Bank, who failed with a bid for SVB has stepped up efforts to make a name for itself in the Silicon Valley venture community. “Picking up 1% of hundreds of billions of dollars is a very material impact from our perspective,” CEO Sam Sidhu told us.
What's it like to experience a bank collapse?
Susie Cranston was at First Republic when it collapsed. She made the jump from JPMorgan to Cresset Partners ($52 billion AUM) and told Mark Calvey all about her career, including the boom times and the bust.
"It is always so incredibly scary, for lack of a better term, when our financial system is in turbulence," Cranston said.
Big investment heads south (of market)
Oxford Capital Group has surrendered four prime San Francisco hotels to its lender. Oxford acquired the hotels near the height of San Francisco's downtown real estate market for $130 million in 2019. The realities of the postpandemic world have seen a cluster of office buildings go back to their respective lenders. Beyond the current interest rate environment, which would have made it more expensive for Oxford to refinance its existing debt on the portfolio, hotel occupancy has yet to recover to prepandemic levels.
AI search reimagined = $60 million funding
A new Bay Area startup developing AI-powered search tools has launched out of stealth with $60 million in seed funding. Known legally as MainFunc, the startup is developing a web search product called Genspark which taps LLMs to deliver results.
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Gladstone Institutes launches $350 million hiring campaign and, maybe, a new building
Biomedical research organization the Gladstone Institutes launched a $350 million, five-year campaign to add more than 300 scientists to lead research into new drugs and technologies. It also needs to finalize plans for a new building to house them. The big question, will they construct a new lab or buy an existing property?
"We sit in a moment in time where we have unprecedented opportunity to understand human disease to a level we never have before, and then to do something about it," CEO Deepak Srivastava said.
"Big jewel" coming to SFO
SFO will soon have two new lounges, including one from Alaska Airlines featuring 55% more seating than it's current offering. The other, will provide an “experience blending the warmth of the great Redwood Forest and the relaxed spirit of San Francisco,” with a focus on travelers’ health and wellness according to Airport Dimensions.
Influential Women award nominations open!
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Past honorees in this annual awards program include Nobel laureates, Fortune 500 CEOs, nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, athletes and artists. Whatever the sector, if you know someone doing amazing things make your nomination here.
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Have a great week.