Silicon Valley Bank Struggles as Startups Rush for Government Loans

As the first set of entrepreneurs learned they would receive emergency loans administered through the federal Small Business Administration, many of those who had applied through Silicon Valley Bank were stuck trying to deal with glitches in the application process.

The tech-focused bank had processed close to 5,000 applications to the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program by Tuesday evening, according to people familiar with the matter. But as many as 30% of those ran into issues requiring applicants to restart the process, the people said. SVB, which handles banking for about half of all venture-backed companies, said through a spokesperson that it had “received significant interest in the program.” She declined to discuss specific numbers.