TechTaffy

tech:

taffy

Cambridge Analytica suspends CEO Alexander Nix

By TechTaffy Desk

The board of Cambridge Analytica has suspended CEO Alexander Nix with immediate effect, pending a full, independent investigation, the company said a statement. Dr. Alexander Tayler, chief data officer of the company, will take over as acting CEO, while an independent investigation is launched.

“Mr. Nix’s recent comments secretly recorded by Channel 4 and other allegations do not represent the values or operations of the firm,” says the statement.

Mr. Nix came under scrutiny along with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, following allegations from whistleblower Christopher Wylie that the data of some 50 million Facebook users were harvested without their permission. The data was allegedly subsequently used for psychological profiling and delivering pro-Trump material during the 2016 elections.

Facebook responded by suspending Cambridge Analytica and the SCL Group from the social network. Facebook has also hired digital forensics firm, Stroz Friedberg, to conduct an audit of Cambridge Analytica.

[Image courtesy: Cambridge Analytica]

Just in

Series A

Tembo raises $14M

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

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. 
Fundings

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.
Around the web

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. 
IT

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.