The shock of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in 2023 made startups across Europe painfully aware of how reliant they were on their bank — and how exposed they were, if they only had one. (And plenty did: one survey found that over a third of British startups banked solely with SVB UK at the time.)
Thankfully, the crisis was short-lived — and founders and investors alike learned some useful lessons about treasury management.
HSBC, which bought SVB’s UK operations and rebranded it as HSBC Innovation Banking, comes out top in a Sifted ranking of most popular banks amongst Europe’s startups. 7.4% of startups that applied to the Sifted 250, a ranking of the fastest-growing startups in Europe, told us they work with HSBC. (An additional 2.3% told us they work with HSBC Innovation Banking.)
In second spot is fintech unicorn Revolut (with 7.2%), followed by French banking giant BNP Paribas (with 6.4%).
Alongside Revolut, fintech unicorns Qonto and Wise also made an appearance in the top 10.
Applicants were able to list multiple banks. 24% of startups didn’t share who they bank with.
