Startup CEO reveals how she saved her company with last-ditch withdrawal from SVB

Maayan Cohen, CEO of Hello Heart, said the company kept tens of millions of dollars in the bank after raising $70 million in a Series D in 2022 and taking its total funding to about $138 million.

By Meir Orbach, Calcalist

Maayan Cohen, CEO of Hello Heart, realized that something was wrong at Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday and knew she had to act fast. “We kept tens of millions of dollars in the bank and in fact, all our money was there and so was all the money of many companies.”

Cohen did not specify exactly how much money the company had in the bank, but in its last funding round in May 2022, the company raised $70 million in a Series D, taking its total funding to about $138 million.

The company’s flagship solution is an FDA-cleared blood pressure monitor coupled with an app. The app allows people to track their blood pressure, pulse, medications, weight, and activity using AI-based technology. The app provides real-time alerts to extremely high readings and encourages users to reach out to their physicians and healthcare professionals to catch risks in time.

“There was a crazy sequence of events,” Cohen told Calcalist. “On Thursday I started to see people talking about SVB in the entrepreneurs’ groups and then I realized that all my money was there. I saw that they were downgraded and there was a liquidity problem, I understood that there was going to be a problem. I woke up our entire finance department from the United States and we moved half of the money to Israel.

“After an hour I turned to our investors but they were divided in their opinions. I decided not to wait and withdrew all the money. A CEO’s loyalty should be to the company first. Not to the bank, not to the state, not to anyone else. So when there is a risk, money is withdrawn.”

Cohen said the local ecosystem responded admirably. “There are masses of entrepreneurs who were in dire straits and many entrepreneurs helped companies with their systems. From what I experienced, most Israeli companies withdrew the money on time because of the connection between all the entrepreneurs. Most other founders waited until the afternoon when it was no longer possible to withdraw the money. This is a step that, for me, saved the company.”

Foreign investmentIsraeli startup