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Thiel-fellow and Vest co-founder resigns from company

Quick Take

  • Staking services firm Vest’s co-founder Axel Ericsson resigned from the company
  • The firm recently raised a Series A and continues to hire at its San Francisco office
  • The company’s domain vest.io now redirects to cambrian.dev, which states “Cambrian Labs. Coming soon.”

Axel Ericsson, co-founder of staking services firm Vest, resigned from the company, The Block has learned. 

Ericsson, a recipient of the prestigious Thiel fellowship, confirmed to The Block that he was no longer with the firm he helped found in 2017. His LinkedIn page suggests his departure was finalized in January. When reached for comment on the status of the company, Ericsson said, "No comment, I'm no longer involved."

Zack Lawrence, his co-founder, remains at the firm's helm and told The Block that Ericsson had not left voluntarily. Per Lawrence, "My cofounder didn't leave, he was removed."

According to Vest investor Nick Tomaino of 1Confirmation, "It's a pre-product company. As is typically the case with pre-product companies, there's been ups and downs, but I'm excited about the direction the company is headed."

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Vest was the first staking-as-a-service platform and raised a publicly undisclosed amount in its recent Series A. The Block is told that the total amount raised is ~$12 million. Per the firm's AngelList page, "We recently secured our Series A funding, are working out of a brand new office in San Francisco and have a small, hard-working core team."

The vest.io domain now redirects to cambrian.dev and presents a landing page stating: "Cambrian Labs. Coming soon."

Update: This article has been updated to reflect that Ericcson resigned from Vest despite the initial comment given to The Block by Lawrence. Lawrence later changed his statement: "I have confirmation from our company legal counsel that Axel resigned from the company."


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Isabel is The Block's London and European reporter. She previously reported for Reuters in Madrid and London, following on from her time as a freelance journalist for the Guardian and the New York Times. She has a Bachelors in War Studies from King’s College London and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Conflict of Interest: Edward Woodford, the CEO of SeedCX, is Isabel's brother. She does not report on any issues related to Seed or advise other authors in any regard.