New York toy store Camp pleads with shoppers for help after Silicon Valley bank crash

A New York-based toy company, stranded after the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, is now pleading with customers to help keep it afloat.

VC-backed retailer Camp sent out an email to shoppers on Friday saying it was cutting prices and planning to use sales proceeds to keep operating after much of its cash was linked to the second-worst banking crash in U.S. history.

“Unfortunately, most of our company’s cash was kept in a bank that just went bankrupt. I’m sure you’ve heard the news,” co-founder Ben Kaufman said in an email to clients, according to CNN.

Kaufman asked customers to use the code “BANKRUN” to save 40% on all items, a likely nod to the bank run that may have helped bring down the Silicon Valley lender. The company also said customers could pay full price, adding that it would be appreciated.

Kaufman said that Camp “hopes this gets sorted out soon.”

CNN did not confirm if Camp had funds in Silicon Valley Bank when the bank collapsed.

The sudden collapse of a niche California lender focused on technology and startups has unleashed chaos in the market and raised fears of a wider contagion that some experts fear could devastate the US banking sector.

It was abruptly closed on Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which placed the remaining assets under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

SVB’s finances took a turn for the worse after the company posted a $1.8 billion loss on its bonds this week.

CEO Greg Becker urged investors on Thursday’s conference call to “keep calm” and not “panic,” but nervous clients were already trying to cash out large balances in excess of the FDIC’s $250,000 insurance limit.

On Friday, he sent a video message to employees in which he acknowledged the “incredibly difficult” 48 hours leading up to the collapse.

“It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I am here to deliver this message,” he said in the video. “I can’t imagine what was going on in your head, and you were thinking about your work, about your future.”

He asked employees to “be there, try to support each other, try to support our customers, work together” to achieve the best result for the company.

In 2015, Becker appeared before a Senate committee to successfully lobby for an exemption from rules enacted after the 2008 crash, independent news outlet The Lever reported. The CEO argued that his bank should not be subject to scrutiny, insisting that “strengthened prudential standards” should be abolished “given the low risk level of our operations.”

In this regard, Becker was removed from his position as a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which he has held since 2019.

With mail wires