In the wake of Neel Somani’s departure, Eclipse announced that chief growth officer Vijay Chetty will be taking over as CEO “effectively immediately.”
In the wake of sexual misconduct claims, Neel Somani, CEO and creator of the Eclipse layer-2 blockchain for Ethereum, has resigned.
“Effective immediately, Vijay Chetty will be appointed CEO of Eclipse Labs, taking over for Neel Somani who is resigning,” Eclipse Labs said on May 16 on X. The article omitted any mention of why Somani departed.
According to Eclipse, Chetty has been the chief growth officer of Uniswap Labs, dYdX Trading, and Ripple Labs from its inception. He also has investment knowledge from his time at BlackRock.
Following “severe accusations concerning sexual misconduct” levelled against him on X, which he has denied, Somani announced on May 9 that he will be “temporarily decreasing” his position as a “public face” for the company.
Eclipse said back then that it “believes in the significance of truth” and “takes charges against our CEO, Neel Somani, seriously.”
Hack VC and Placeholder, two venture capital companies, spearheaded a $50 million Series A investment that the company closed in March.
The venture capital firm expressed its “very upset to hear about the severe charges made lately against [Eclipse] founder Neel Somani” in a May 16 post to X.
The statement went on to say that it was successful in “correcting the situation, including pushing Neel to retire, and we are glad to see that happen.”
“Hack VC strictly prohibits all forms of sexual harassment and malfeasance; the same rigors standards extend to our portfolio companies and our founders. For the record, the alleged conduct in issue is completely inappropriate, end of story,” it said.
Neither Eclipse nor Somani were available for comment when contacted immediately.
