Tom Bedecarre, who was the co-founder and former chairman of advertising agency AKQA, has passed away. He was 70.
Bedecarre was also president of WPP Ventures, where he explored Silicon Valley investment opportunities for WPP. Here, he helped source investment opportunities such as Muzy (acquired by UBER) and Kano Computing. He collaborated with venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, to develop customer relationships with WPP clients.
He was also an investor and advisor for Silicon Valley startups.
As AKQA’s former co-founder and chairman, he led the global expansion of the digital marketing and technology services firm from North America to Europe, Asia and Latin America. He completed four acquisitions and raised more than $150 million from General Atlantic, a private equity firm. The business was sold to the WPP Group for almost $600 million.
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