Ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has moved his AI startup out of stealth, calling it Parallel
Parag Agrawal was the CEO of Twitter from November 2021 to October 2022.
The former CEO of Twitter has moved his AI startup out of stealth mode with a previously unknown name: Parallel Web Systems.
It’s unclear when Parag Agrawal updated his LinkedIn profile with the startup’s name, but he has been working on the venture since at least the start of 2024.
Agrawal raised about $30 million for the startup, The Information reported in January when the startup’s name was still unknown. Some of the startup’s backers include venture capital firms Khosla Ventures, Index Ventures, and First Round Capital.
The company’s LinkedIn page, which shows 10 other people working for it, links to an official website that shows it’s building an “API for AIs using web data.”
Parallel’s website is short on details about its mission other than stating that it is developing “systems for advanced AIs to work with the web.”
It also predicts that AI will use the web on behalf of humans. The website description says: “Access and computation on the web will increase by several orders of magnitude. Everything from the infrastructure to business models will need to evolve.”
The startup is based in Palo Alto, California, per its website. However, the terms of service section lists an address in San Francisco that is a short drive from the former office of Twitter, now called X.
Company filings show that a separate entity, Shapley Inc., of which Agrawal is a corporate officer, is registered to the same address.
It’s unclear when Agrawal registered the website domain.
From Twitter to AI startup
Agrawal was the CEO of Twitter from November 2021 to October 2022, when Elon Musk fired him following his acquisition of the platform.
According to Kurt Wagner’s book “Battle for the Bird,” which details Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, the billionaire complained to Agrawal about an account that tracked his private jet. Musk reportedly asked the then-Twitter CEO to remove it, but Agrawal denied his request.
Wagner said in an X post in February that Musk started buying shares in Twitter in the same month he complained about the jet tracking account. He then became its biggest shareholder by April 2022 after building up a 9.2% stake.
The acquisition was finalized in October 2022, and one of Musk’s first moves was to fire Agrawal, along with former chief financial officer Ned Segal, top legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett.
The ex-Twitter chief and the three other former executives filed a lawsuit against Musk in March for $128 million, claiming unpaid severance.
Parallel Web Systems didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17, made outside normal working hours.
