The brand new interim CEO of Astronomer broke his silence on the Coldplay “kiss cam” scandal — and gushed that the small, New York-based AI agency is now a “household name.”
Brooklynite Pete DeJoy, the corporate’s co-founder, took the reins at Astronomer over the weekend after its disgraced boss Andy Byron resigned after being caught on the kiss cam cozying up with Kristin Cabot, the corporate’s head of HR.
“The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name,” DeJoy stated in a LinkedIn publish on Monday.
“The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies – let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world – ever encounter.” he added.
Byron, after being noticed on the kiss cam together with his arms wrapped round Cabot ultimately week’s Coldplay live performance in Boston, actually ducked out of view as Cabot turned her again to the digicam and rushed to cowl her face together with her arms.
That prompted the band’s frontman Chris Martin to quip: “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”
The snafu made headlines and shortly discovered itself the butt of many a joke, with each the Phillies and “SportsCenter” anchors recreating the mortifying second.
DeJoy, who beforehand served as Astronomer’s chief product officer, seemingly embraced the viral bit — and took the chance to plug his firm.
“At Astronomer we have never shied away from challenges,” DeJoy stated Monday.
“From starting a software company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to keeping the lights on through the collapse of the bank that held all our cash, to scaling from 30 to 300 people during a global pandemic that demanded we do it all without ever being in the same room.”
Only a few months earlier than the scandal, the privately-held software program agency raised practically $100 million from main traders together with Bain Capital, Salesforce, Venrock and Meritech.
Up to now, none of these traders have commented on the viral uproar surrounding the corporate.
The interim boss additionally made his feedback on Monday after the corporate’s workers final week have been ordered to remain mum on the scandal.
Workers at Astronomer’s Manhattan workplace advised The Publish they have been directed to maintain quiet concerning the scandal.
“Nope, we’re not allowed to talk about it,” one employee stated.
So far, the corporate has raised greater than $350 million from outdoors traders because it was based in 2015, in response to information from Crunchbase and different funding trackers.
Different companies listed as traders on Astronomer’s web site embrace JP Morgan Chase, Perception Companions, Sierra Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and KS International.
DeJoy was a key member of the workforce that constructed the information firm in 2017, in response to his LinkedIn.
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He began Astronomer when he was contemporary out of school, having graduated from Bowdoin Faculty in Brunswick, Maine – a personal, liberal arts college with a roughly $65,000 tuition price ticket.
DeJoy was promoted to senior vice chairman in 2023 earlier than his promotion to chief product officer in February.
