Nova Labs Conducts Significant Layoffs Amid Strategic Shift

According to Blockworks, Nova Labs, the company behind the Helium Mobile cell network, executed a substantial round of layoffs at the end of August. Nova Labs Chief Operating Officer Frank Mong confirmed that 36% of the company's workforce was let go. A source familiar with the situation described the layoffs as a move to right-size the company and focus on its core cellular business. A former employee estimated that Nova Labs had around 105 employees at the time of the layoffs. Mong explained that the company experienced significant growth in its mobile network business and saw an opportunity to concentrate more resources on accelerating the network's growth and subscriber base. This necessitated a need for efficiency across the board. He expressed appreciation for the efforts of both current and former employees. The layoffs affected multiple departments within Nova Labs, including the engineering team. Helium initially started as a startup focused on the internet of things (IoT), which involves physical objects capable of connecting and exchanging data with other devices. Over time, Helium became a prominent name in the crypto space, using tokens to incentivize users to build distributed wireless networks. Users can generate a wireless signal using Helium-approved hardware and receive tokens as a reward. The project, known as the “people’s network,” raised over $360 million in venture capital funding between 2013 and 2022, according to CryptoRank. The Helium Foundation currently maintains the Helium IoT network, while Helium co-founder Amir Haleem leads Nova Labs, which was spun out from the original project. A source indicated that the layoffs were partly due to a strategic pivot from building wireless networks to focusing on crypto-forward cell phone plans. Helium Mobile offers nationwide unlimited cell plans for $20 a month, enabled through a partnership with T-Mobile. Helium Mobile users connect to the Helium network where possible, and Helium Mobile pays for T-Mobile data otherwise.