Elon Musk’s The Boring Co. to build O’Hare transit
Mayor Rahm Emanuel selected Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to build out a transit tunnel transporting people from the Loop to O’Hare through underground tunnels in only 12 minutes. The project will be entirely funded by private investors and is estimated to cost less than $1 billion. Emanuel cited Musk’s past achievements with Tesla and SpaceX as factors in the city’s decision to make a bet on The Boring Company. [Chicago Tribune]
Sheryl Sandberg comes to town to announce Facebook’s coding program
Sheryl Sandberg is in Chicago to announce a new tech education initiative. Facebook plans to pay for a coding bootcamp for 50 people, as well as partner with City Colleges of Chicago to expand their technology curriculum. Sandberg’s visit comes at a good time as Facebook reportedly is looking for new offices to expand in Chicago. [Crain’s]
Amazon's crushing on two Chicago sites
As the location decision for the second Amazon headquarters, projected to employ as many as 50,000 employees, looms over many mayors’ heads, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has to be careful about what he says. But according to the Chicago Tribune, Emanuel did say that Amazon “really likes” two of the Chicago sites. As the list narrows down, Emanuel continues to remind the public of Chicago’s many advantages. That said, everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for the announcement that is supposed to come sometime this year. [Chicago Tribune]
STATS and SpokeHub make World Cup conversations more meaningful
STATS and SpokeHub make a great pairing during the largest sporting event in the world — the World Cup. The plan is to combine STATS Insights’ data and trends with SpokeHub’s soccer communities and fanbase via their app. For all you soccer fans out there, these two platforms will allow you to connect with your soccer community all over the world. [Business Wire]
Venson Kuchipudi is the newest additions to CardX’s team
CardX, which provides zero-cost credit card acceptance to institutions and organizations, recently hired Venson Kuchipudi as senior vice president for technology. Kuchipudi is going to use his technology experience to lead the product team, overlooking new web applications and software. As a former founder and CEO of Life Net Inc., Kuchipudi’s has ample previous experience to prepare him for this role at CardX. [CardX]
SPINS CEO named Entrepreneur of the Year
SPINS’ CEO, Tony Olson, won the Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 Midwest Award announced by EY at Navy Pier in Chicago. In his speech, Olson made sure to shout out the early farmers and brands who have impacted the agricultural industry as well as his own. SPINS, which provides data and analytics for natural, organic and specialty product industries, celebrates this award as they anticipate great employee growth. [PR Newswire]
Two new executives added to the Fusion team
Fusion, a company which strives to prepare businesses against cyberattacks, recently took on two new members to its executive team. As they are expecting more than 40 percent year-over-year growth and recently announced an expansion into European markets, Fusion hopes that these two individuals will fuel further growth. Fusion takes on Cory Cowgill as its new vice president and chief technology officer, and Paul Ybarra as the new senior vice president and chief revenue officer. [Fusion]
Pivotal Software Stock Soars
Pivotal, the cloud-based software platform with a beautiful office in Chicago, is celebrating as its stock increased in value on Wednesday. This stock increase comes during the company’s first quarter as a public company and is thanks to existing customers who have expanded their use of the software. [Motley Fool]
ActiveCampaign welcomes a new CTO
ActiveCampaign, a sales and marketing automation platform, is adding Tony Newcome to their team as chief technology officer. Coming from ExactTarget and, most recently, Salesforce, Tony has the experiences and skill sets to scale the company’s growth and add to its tech strategy. [PR Newswire]
