According to BlockBeats, cryptocurrency venture capital giant Polychain has accused its former employee, Niraj Pant, of engaging in a backdoor deal that violated the fund's policy with portfolio company Eclipse Labs. This information was revealed by three insiders and internal documents from Eclipse reviewed by CoinDesk.
In September 2022, Eclipse Labs' former CEO, Neel Somani, quietly allocated 5% of the upcoming Eclipse cryptocurrency tokens to Pant. This allocation occurred just days after Pant directed Polychain to lead a $6 million pre-seed funding round for the company. However, the final allocation was reduced to 1.33%, which is worth approximately $13.3 million based on the fully diluted valuation from the most recent private investment round.
A source close to Eclipse Labs revealed that the company's most recent funding round set the fully diluted valuation of its tokens at $1 billion. 'Polychain only became aware of the financial relationship between Eclipse and Niraj Pant after Niraj Pant left the company,' a Polychain spokesperson stated in an email to CoinDesk. 'Polychain has strict policies and procedures involving employees serving in advisory roles. After Mr. Pant left Polychain, the company discovered that he had violated its policy and conducted an investigation.'