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- Parag Agrawal updated his LinkedIn page with his AI startup's name: Parallel Web Systems.
- The ex-Twitter CEO raised about $30 million for the startup, The Information reported in January.
- Parallel's website says its initial product is "an API for AIs using web data."
Parag Agrawal, a former CEO of Twitter, moved his AI startup out of stealth mode and clarified its name: Parallel Web Systems.
It's unclear when 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.
The Information reported in January, when the startup's name was still unknown, that Agrawal had raised about $30 million for the startup. Its backers include the 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 a website that describes the startup as building "an API for AIs using web data."
Parallel's website is short on details about its mission other than saying it's developing "systems for advanced AIs to work with the web."
It also predicts that AI will use the web on behalf of humans. "Access and computation on the web will increase by several orders of magnitude," the website says. "Everything from the infrastructure to business models will need to evolve."
The website says the startup is based in Palo Alto, California. But the terms-of-service section lists an address in San Francisco that is a short drive from the former office of Twitter, now 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 after acquiring the platform.
Kurt Wagner's book "Battle for the Bird," which details Musk's $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, says Musk complained to Agrawal about an account that tracked his private jet. Musk reportedly asked Agrawal 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 became its biggest shareholder by April 2022, building up a 9.2% stake.
The acquisition was finalized in October 2022. One of Musk's first moves was to fire Agrawal, along with Ned Segal, the chief financial officer; Vijaya Gadde, a top legal and policy executive; and Sean Edgett, a general counsel.
Agrawal and the three other former executives filed a lawsuit against Musk in March, saying he owed them $128 million in severance.
Parallel Web Systems didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider made outside normal working hours.