Private Equity Giant Apollo Talks to VC Firms About SVB Bid

Private equity firm Apollo Management has been talking to General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures and other venture capitalists as the PE firm considers bidding for part of the bank, according to five people with knowledge of the discussions.

The PE firm’s inquiries were preliminary and designed to determine whether a bid for SVB assets would make sense, according to the people. Some of these discussions took place with a representative from Apollo over a Zoom call, the people said. And investors from VC firms including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital were part of an email chain discussing topics including how to handle the fallout from SVB and the potential of an Apollo bid, according to one of the people. A bank is still the most likely acquirer of SVB assets, which include $74 billion worth of loans and equity in numerous startups.