The head of UK relationship banking at Silicon Valley Bank, Gerald Brady (with family), is moving back to Palo Alto, California to take up a new role at the company headquarters in June. “As managing director SVB Network, I will be responsible for the bank’s c-suite relationships, especially in the CIO community,” said Brady.
During his two years in London, the branch has grown to the extent that it had to move to bigger offices in Finsbury Square three weeks ago.
Previously Brady worked for the venture capital unit of Germany-based industrial corporation Siemens, before joining SVB in 2009 to lead its corporate relationship management team.
The announcement of Brady’s move was made at a smart retail showcase event this week in partnership with the UK government’s UKTI Venture Capital Unit. Eleven early stage and growth stage businesses presented at the gathering in SVB’s new offices, with at least two of them having already received corporate venture investments; Mallzee, described as a “tinder for fashion shopping app,” raised $4m in a series A round in 2015 including investment from UK-based postal delivery service Royal Mail, while Metail, a technology to help shoppers “try on” clothes virtually, raised a series B round of $20m in 2014 including from Hong Kong-based garment manufacturer TAL Group.
A keynote address was given by Paul Coby, IT director of UK-based retailer John Lewis. Coby is also head of John Lewis’s JLAB accelerator initiative.
The showcase was part of a series of sector-specific pitch events run jointly in the UK by SVB and UKTI. Paul Morris, who leads investor interactions on behalf of the UKTI Venture Capital Unit, said “This was our fourth Showcase and these events have become a regular and highly-appreciated fixture in the calendars of corporate VCs and VC funds. Attendance regularly exceeds 100 with corporates represented today from the US, Japan, China, Russia and many European countries.”
The next showcases are Fintech/Physical Sciences in Liverpool on June 22nd and Enterprise Software in London on November 22nd. SVB will also be showcasing growth stage companies at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium in London on May 25th.