Blockworks was informed by three sources with direct knowledge that Nova Labs, which is the company responsible for the Helium Mobile network, had undertaken a major round of job cuts towards the end of August.
Nova Labs’ Chief Operating Officer Frank Mong told Blockworks that the company had laid off 36%.
A person who is familiar with the situation said that the layoffs were a result of Nova Labs resizing itself to concentrate on its core business, cellular technology. Former employees estimated that Nova Labs employed around 105 people at the time the layoffs took place.
“We experienced tremendous growth in our mobile network business. We saw an opportunity to focus more attention and resources on accelerating the growth of the network and subscriber base, resulting in the need to be more efficient across the board. We appreciate the efforts of all our current and former employees,” Mong stated in an e-mail.
The layoffs affected multiple departments at Nova Labs including the engineering team, according to former employees.
Helium started as a company focused on internet of things. IoT is an umbrella term that refers to physical devices with the ability to exchange data and connect with others.
Helium, which uses tokens to reward users for building distributed wireless network, has grown to be one of the crypto industry’s most buzzed-about businesses. Helium hardware can be used by individuals or companies to create a wireless network and earn tokens. The “people’s network” According to the funding tracking website CryptoRank, between 2013 and 2020, venture capital funds raised more than $360 Million.
Helium Foundation now maintains its IoT Helium network. Helium’s co-founder Amir Haleem, who was part of the original Helium Project, has assumed the leadership at Nova Labs.
Sources said that the Nova Labs layoffs are partly the result of the strategic pivot of the project. The company started off building wireless networks, but now focuses on a core product of cell phone plans with cryptography.
Helium Mobile has nationwide, unlimited cell phone plans available for only $20 per month. Helium Mobile’s partnership with T-Mobile allows the plan to be enabled. Helium Mobile customers connect to Helium Mobile when it is possible. Helium Mobile then pays T-Mobile for data elsewhere.
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