SVB Capital

Pinegrove is a venture investment platform designed to deliver tailored solutions for fund managers, founders, and limited partners in the venture capital ecosystem. Pinegrove’s expertise spans fund of funds, venture debt funds, venture secondaries, and co-investments. In September 2024, Sequoia Heritage and Brookfield Asset Management acquired control over SVB Capital. At that time, SVB Capital adopted Pinegrove Venture Partners and Pinegrove as its new name.

What was the operational relationship between SVB and SVBC prior to the split?

SVB Financial Group was a publicly traded financial services holding company, whose primary subsidiary was SVB. SVB Financial Group had other subsidiaries, including an investment bank, and SVB Capital. SVB provided the centralized back-office functions like IT, cybersecurity, etc. This allowed the businesses to focus on growing.

Upon SVB’s acquisition, SVB Capital entered into a transition service agreement with SVB/FCB for a specific time. During the transition agreement, it was important that SVB Capital find a partner who was nimble, who understood the VC space, could accommodate our size, and move with the velocity needed for us to build our own infrastructure before the transition agreement terminated and/or we were acquired from SVB Financial Group by another party.

How did you hear about Pliancy?

We heard about Pliancy through an existing client of Pliancy. The Pliancy client shared that it felt like a partnership and an extension of the team, not a third-party service provider. After doing our due diligence, and vetting other potential service providers, it was clear Pliancy was the partner for us at that time.

“After doing our due diligence […] it was clear Pliancy was the partner for us.”

When evaluating IT partners, were there specific qualities that made you feel confident about choosing Pliancy?

From a partner, SVB Capital wanted a vendor that understood the venture ecosystem, while at the same time understanding the regulatory expectations for a registered investment adviser (RIA). SVB Capital had specific needs in terms of establishing its own infrastructure without a lot of time to do so. Furthermore, SVB Capital did not want to enter a long-term arrangement, because of the likely event of an acquisition of SVB Capital.

Pliancy understood that we needed flexibility because of the uncertainty of our situation. As a result, the agreement was adapted to accommodate various possible outcomes. Pliancy was able to act quickly and efficiently in getting SVB Capital established with its own IT, in a compliant manner.

How would you describe the experience of unwinding SVBC from SVB’s infrastructure?

The decoupling was very complex. SVB was a global financial institution that provided a lot of services for its affiliates. In many instances, the contractual relationship with various vendors, providing services for everyone, was with SVB or SVB Financial Group, not SVB Capital. Initially, it was figuring out what SVB Capital used, needed, and who provided that service. Then, it was determining who “owned” the contract and whether we needed to reach out to the vendor to establish our own contract and services.

The decoupling work required all hands on deck, regardless of whether you had domain knowledge or expertise in a specific area. Once we engaged with Pliancy to help us figure out the IT transition, it felt manageable. Pliancy helped us get our employees the technology they needed. Of course there were challenges we didn’t foresee, but Pliancy kept me from feeling the pain of these surprises as things came around the corner.

“I have nothing but appreciation for the team, and if anyone came to me saying they were looking for something that fit within your wheelhouse, I would be happy to endorse Pliancy 100%.”

How has your partnership with Pliancy differed from IT support you’ve experienced previously?

With most IT teams, it’s faceless on the other end. You put in a ticket, maybe you get passed around before your issue gets resolved, and you never speak to that person again. There’s no opportunity to develop a relationship.

Everyone on our team found Pliancy’s approach to support refreshing. I would knock on doors and ask for feedback. By and large, almost across the board, it was always positive. People would say, “It’s so refreshing to be able to get some real help instead of just submitting a ticket, getting an email, and then talking to somebody that you feel like you have to re-explain your problem to all over again.”

You’ve collaborated with many different teams across Pliancy. What connections and relationships stand out to you?

There are two eras in my mind: the implementation phase and the maintenance phase. For our actual separation, Noah [Tagliaferri, now VP of Growth] is the person I remember most. He was the person I could get on the phone if I had a question, he was always available, always picked up. He has a calming demeanor about him, but he also is able to convey confidence in the domain that he’s representing. For day-to-day support, people still miss Mariam [Noureddine, projects engineer] even to this day. She felt like a real part of the SVBC team.

After SVBC’s technical environment was established, we worked more with Donald [Gonzalez, IT director] and Anthony [Kasongo, managing consultant]. My speed to trust with Donald was reached at incredibly high velocity. I found the more I got to know him, the more you appreciate about him. He’s solid, measured, and thoughtful. Anthony has also been great on our day-to-day support. He’s always there behind the scenes.

“Once we engaged with Pliancy to help us figure out the IT transition, it felt manageable.”

Did you have reservations about transitioning between Pliancy contacts?

Despite there being a handoff, I wouldn’t say that there was any disruption to the quality of service or our impression of Pliancy. Noah let us know that his focus was on the decoupling phase and standing up our new environment. He said, “After that, I’m going to pass you to somebody who is more tailored toward maintenance and growth versus an implementation”—and because we had an established relationship with Noah, we were a little nervous at first. But then Donald stepped in, and to Noah’s credit, I felt a change in our conversations. Donald focused more on the ongoing maintenance that we needed to sustain.

As you had predicted, SVBC was acquired by a company with an existing IT resource in place. Though you’re leaving Pliancy, would you recommend our services to your peers?

Absolutely. Our partnership isn’t ending because we’re displeased with the service. I explored ways it might make sense for us to stay with Pliancy, or even to have our Pliancy partnership coexist with the new IT team. If it weren’t for the acquiring entity’s existing vendor, we would have been very happy continuing our journey with Pliancy.

Speaking with our new IT team, they mentioned how amazingly on top of everything Pliancy was, and how graceful you’ve been while handing the keys off to our new partners. It was nice to see on one of our final calls how both sides showed great respect to each other.

I have nothing but appreciation for the team, and if anyone came to me saying they were looking for something that fit within your wheelhouse, I would be happy to endorse Pliancy 100%.

“With most IT teams, it’s faceless on the other end. […] Everyone on our team found Pliancy’s approach to support refreshing.”