Eclipse Appoints New CEO After Neel Somani’s Departure

Eclipse appoints a new CEO Vijay Chetty to succeed Neel Somani, the company’s founder, amidst sexual harassment allegations.

Eclipse, a blockchain company, said on Thursday that Vijay Chetty, its chief growth officer, has been named the company’s new CEO instead of Neel Somani.

In an X (Twitter) post on May 9, Somani recognized but refuted claims of sexual harassment, stating that he would “temporarily” reduce his involvement as Eclipse’s public face while he attempted to “clear” his record. This led to his abrupt departure.

Chetty Replaces Neel Somani in Leadership

Eclipse named the new Eclipse Labs executive in an operational update on X released on May 16.

Effective immediately,” Vijay Chetty will be named CEO of Eclipse Labs, taking over for Neel Somani who is departing. Chetty will be elevated from Chief Growth Officer and will assume all responsibilities of CEO,” the update read

According to the blockchain company, Chetty has a plethora of first-hand expertise with cryptocurrencies. In addition to his expertise as an investor at BlackRock, he has held significant leadership positions at Uniswap Labs, dYdX Trading, and Ripple Labs.

Eclipse did not provide many details regarding the operational update, but Web3 venture capital firm Hack VC applauded the action and expressed its “deep trouble” with the accusations of sexual harassment made against Somani.

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,” the firm wrote on X.

Together with Placeholder, Hack VC co-led Eclipse’s $50 million Series A financing in March. Polychain Capital, Delphi Digital, Maven 11, DBA, Apollo-managed funds, and Fenbushi Capital were the other noteworthy participants in the round.

As of the time of writing, there have been no legal charges filed against Neel Somani in response to the allegations made against him on social media.

Shortly after learning of these allegations and speaking with Eclipse, Neel Somani voluntarily chose to step down from his position as CEO in the best interests of the company, to avoid disrupting Eclipse’s daily operations with a personal matter.