AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff join Google's Chrome team
Workflow automation tool Relay is shutting down, with founder Jacob Bank returning to Google to lead Chrome product efforts. The closure was first announced in July, and paying customers will lose access on September 14.
Relay, an AI-powered workflow automation tool launched in 2021 with ambitions of becoming the next Zapier, is shutting down. Some of its staff, including founder and CEO Jacob Bank, are moving to Google's Chrome team.
Bank shared a company announcement on Monday confirming that paying customers will lose access to the app on September 14, while free users already lost access on August 15. The shutdown was initially announced back in July.
Back to Google
Bank previously spent just over six years at Google and is now rejoining the company as VP of Product for Chrome, where he will lead both the product and developer relations teams. He first joined Google in 2015 after the search giant acquired his earlier startup, a scheduling app called Timeful. During his time at Google, Bank worked across several teams, serving as product lead for Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Chat, before leaving to start Relay.
Like Timeful before it, Relay aimed to boost productivity through workflow automation, helping businesses streamline repetitive tasks such as document drafting, copyediting and various project management functions.
In a post on X, Bank said his career has centered on building tools that let people accomplish more with AI without losing their personal creativity or insight, adding that joining Chrome gives him a chance to bring that experience to a much larger audience. He said more details on ambitious plans for AI in Chrome would be shared soon.
AI's growing role at Google
Bank described Chrome as an ideal place for people to collaborate with AI agents, though exactly how that integration will take shape remains unclear. The move fits into Google's broader push to weave AI throughout its products — Gemini is already embedded in Search and available as an optional assistant within Chrome. Google recently reported that Gemini has surpassed 1 billion users.
