Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has appointed technology and life science banker Mercy Forde and VC fund CFO Nina Labatt to its Venture Capital and Private Equity Services team, which is dedicated to providing the financial services required by venture capital and private equity firms. Having worked closely with venture capitalists for nearly 30 years, SVB has become the preferred banker to more than half of the venture capital firms in the US.
"We have an outstanding team that understands the unique financing needs of our venture capital and private equity partners," says Greg Becker, President and CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. "Mercy and Nina bring years of highly relevant experience to an outstanding team of professionals that deliver non-traditional financial products with world class client service. Our VC and private equity clients trust us to help finance their firm, so we continue to invest in the practice and aim to impress them with a globally-connected, tech-savvy team."
Forde joins SVB’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Services team after working with technology and life science companies of all sizes for the past 17 years at Silicon Valley Bank. For the past decade she has specialised in working with life science companies. Forde worked in the telecom and government defence industries prior to joining SVB. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from San Diego State University and an MBA from Golden Gate University.
Labatt has been a CFO for venture capital and private equity firms for the better part of 11 years, and joins SVB most recently from Health Evolution Partners and Labrador Ventures. Labatt began her financial services career specialising in investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in international policy studies from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Labatt is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of VCBC, the industry group for venture capital finance professionals.
