Silicon Valley Bank to Open Office in Irvine Spectrum

Silicon Valley Bank, which helped put that other technology hub on the map, is expanding its presence in Orange County. The bank, which started its first Southern California office near John Wayne Airport seven years ago, will open a second local office in the Irvine Spectrum by the end of August.

The Santa Clara-based bank, founded in 1983, has tread where most mainstream banks fear to go. It’s an aggressive lender that specializes in financing growth companies, and played a key role in helping Silicon Valley develop into an economic powerhouse. Recently, it has been expanding geographically as it seeks out other fertile entrepreneurial areas. Earlier this year, it opened an office in Los Angeles to lend to growing technology companies.

The Irvine Spectrum office will accommodate about 20 employees who specialize in technology, life sciences and health care. Remaining at the old office will be the bank’s growing practice for religious services, which it has identified as another underserved market.

The move was prompted by the bank’s desire to be where the action is--which it believes is the Irvine Spectrum. “It puts us right in the middle of things,” said Rick Shuttleworth, senior vice president of Orange County technology at Silicon Valley Bank. “If you just go down Technology Drive here, it’s company after company after company that are prospects of ours.”

Shuttleworth noted that the bank’s move into the Spectrum is part of the development of an infrastructure of service providers that will help the area’s emergence as a center of cutting-edge business.

In the same building, for instance, is the law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, which specializes in serving high-tech clients and often collaborates with Silicon Valley Bank. These service firms can help young companies “round out their resumes” and prepare them for future growth, he said.