New CEO appointed at Eclipse Labs following investors’ request for founder’s resignation

• Exciting News: Vijay Chetty Steps in as Eclipse Labs’ New CEO!
• Investors, including Hack VC, may have influenced the leadership change.

Eclipse Labs surprised the industry by appointing Vijay Chetty as the new CEO, replacing the former CEO Neel Soman amidst allegations. Last week, Soman, the founder of the Ethereum [ETH] L2 scaling solution, had denied the allegations but decided to reduce his public role within the company.

On Wednesday, Eclipse Labs officially announced Chetty as the new CEO, a promotion from his previous role as Chief Growth Officer. In a statement, Eclipse Labs confirmed:

“Operational update on behalf of Eclipse Labs: “Effective immediately, Vijay Chetty will be named CEO of Eclipse Labs, taking over for Neel Somani, who is departing.”

Potential Investor Influence on Eclipse Labs’ Leadership Change

It appears that the decision to change leadership at Eclipse Labs was influenced by the investors. Hack VC, one of the major investors, admitted to working alongside others to encourage Soman’s resignation following the allegations.

“Since learning about the allegations, we worked hard with other investors and the team to correct the situation, including urging Neel to resign, and we are pleased to see that happen.”

Hack VC and Placeholder originally invested $50 million in Eclipse Labs back in March 2024. Additional investors joined in subsequent funding rounds to support Eclipse Labs in developing the upcoming Eclipse Mainnet launch.

Interestingly, another investor, Dragon Capital, reportedly chose not to invest in Eclipse Labs after hearing rumors of sexual assault. This investor intervention could have aimed to protect the reputation of the first Ethereum scaling solution utilizing Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). Hack VC reinforced their stance:

“We do not tolerate sexual harassment or misconduct in any form at Hack VC, and we hold our founders and portfolio companies to the same high standards.”

With the appointment of Chetty as the new CEO, all eyes are now on the upcoming Eclipse Mainnet launch scheduled for Q2 under the new leadership.