Eigen Labs Reduces Workforce by 25% to Focus on EigenCloud Development

Eigen Labs has laid off 29 employees amid a restructuring of its processes, as announced by CEO Shriram Kannan.

«While these changes are difficult, they enable us as a company to focus and organize teams in a way that sustainably drives us towards a unified and ambitious goal: the creation of the world’s first verifiable cloud platform [EigenCloud],» Kannan stated.

He expressed gratitude to the dismissed employees for their contributions to laying the project’s foundation. A full severance package was provided, along with accelerated vesting, continued health insurance, and personal assistance in finding new job opportunities.

In March 2023, Eigen Labs secured $50 million in a Series A funding round from investors including Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, Hack VC, Finality Capital Partners, and Coinbase Ventures. In a subsequent round, venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) invested $100 million.

In June 2025, Eigen Labs further raised $70 million from a16z through the sale of EIGEN tokens and launched the EigenCloud platform. The total investment reached $220 million, with $170 million attributed to a16z.

«It is extremely rare to encounter a developer with such a level of vision and a plan that has the potential to transform everything,» noted a16z General Partner Ali Yahya in an investment report.

EigenCloud encompasses essential services:

Currently, access to EigenCloud is limited to a select group of developers, with a full launch anticipated by the end of 2025.

The Eigen Layer platform offers ETH restaking to ensure the security of external networks. As of the time of writing, over 200 active validation services are in development.

According to DeFi Llama, the total value locked in Eigen Layer stands at approximately $12.2 billion, with a peak value of $20 billion recorded in June 2024.

It is worth mentioning that Eigen Labs had recruited Ethereum developer Justin Drake as an advisor, a move that elicited mixed reactions from the community when it was publicly disclosed.