Exiled Movement Lab co-founder sues Delaware court startup

Table of Contents

Rushikesh Manche, co-founder of Crypto Infrastructure Startup Movement Labs, filed a lawsuit against the company on July 9th in Chancery Court in Delaware.

Manchev. The case, entitled MVMTLabs Inc., seeks a declarative ruling under the Corporate Act. This is a legal action that is often used to determine the rights or obligations of parties involved. Manche is represented by the law firm Ballard Spahr, and lawyer David J. Margules is listed on the docket. The case is currently assigned to Prime Minister Paul A. Fioravanti Jr. of Chance Court, Delaware.

Manche did not respond to defiant’s request for comment. A Movement Labs spokesperson said the company had “no comment” on the issue.

A large funding round

Manche co-founded Movement Lab in 2022 with Cooper Scanlon and other early contributors, with the goal of integrating Move Virtual Machine into the Ethereum environment.

Using Move programming language to build Ethereum-compatible blockchain infrastructure, Move Lab became prominent in early 2024 after securing funds designed to bring Move safety guarantees to the EVM chain and launching ecosystem tools.

Movement Labs has raised approximately $41.4 million so far, including a $3.4 million seed round in 2023 and a $38 million Series A led by PolyChain Capital in April 2024, according to Clay.com. According to Fortune, the company was also reportedly preparing a $100 million Series B round at a $3 billion valuation projected in January.

Move token sale

However, a Coindesk investigation surged tensions in April when Manche linked Manche to an entity called Rentech, access to 66 million mobile tokens, or a market-making agreement that provided about 5% of supply. The tokens were sold quickly, causing prices to plummet, raising concerns over private arrangements and governance control.

Movement Labs first hung the Manche “in light of an ongoing event” on May 2, awaiting a third-party governance review by Groom Lake. On May 7, the board officially fired him, citing a private market establishment arrangement that includes mobile tokens.