tech:

taffy

Forner Akamai President Joins The Weather Channel As Chairman & CEO

[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

David Kenny has been selected to be chairman and chief executive officer of the Weather Channel Companies (TWCC).

David Kenny:  The Weather Channel has ubiquitous reach across our TV, digital and mobile platforms, and that’s what makes us so unique.

The consortium that owns The Weather Channel Companies, Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, and NBC Universal, released the following statement:  “David brings a strong leadership background having served as chief executive at global companies across different aspects of the media industry. This experience gives him a deep understanding of the TV and digital business, and he has the leadership experience and vision to drive global initiatives across all platforms.  The Weather Channel Companies business is strong and on the right track, and with David leading a strong team, we are well positioned to seize the many good opportunities that lie ahead.”

Mr. Kenny succeeds Mike Kelly, who joined the company as President and CEO in 2009. Mr. Kelly will serve as a special adviser to the CEO and the Board of Directors of TWCC. He will also serve as an adviser to Bain Capital.

Mr. Kenny comes to TWCC after serving as president of Akamai.  Previously, he co-founded and served as managing partner of VivaKi, the combined worldwide media and digital arm of Publicis Groupe, and he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Digitas. Mr. Kenny currently serves as member of the Board of Yahoo, and a director of Teach for America.

Just in

Tembo raises $14M

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Tembo, a Postgres managed service provider, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round.

Raspberry Pi is now a public company — TC

Raspberry Pi priced its IPO on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning at £2.80 per share, valuing it at £542 million, or $690 million at today’s exchange rate, writes Romain Dillet. 

AlphaSense raises $650M

AlphaSense, a market intelligence and search platform, has raised $650 million in funding, co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners.

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B to take on OpenAI — VentureBeat

Confirming reports from April, the series B investment comes from the participation of multiple known venture capital firms and investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding, writes Shubham Sharma. 

Capgemini partners with DARPA to explore quantum computing for carbon capture

Capgemini Government Solutions has launched a new initiative with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to investigate quantum computing's potential in carbon capture.