Relay Shuts Down, CEO Jacob Bank Joins Google Chrome as VP
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- Relay, the AI workflow automation startup launched in 2021 with ambitions to be "the new Zapier," is shutting down — paying customers lose access September 14 and free users were cut off August 15.
- Jacob Bank, Relay's founder and CEO, is rejoining Google as VP of Product for Chrome, where he will lead the product and developer relations teams.
- Bank previously spent more than six years at Google as product lead for Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Chat before leaving; his earlier startup Timeful was acquired by Google in 2015.
- Relay offered businesses AI-driven productivity tools for document drafting, copyediting, and project management before its closure was first announced in July.
- Gemini is already integrated into Chrome as an optional in-browser assistant, and Google recently reported the AI has surpassed 1 billion users.
Why it matters: Google is handing its Chrome browser strategy to an operator who already shipped Gmail, Calendar, and Chat — and who explicitly teased "ambitious plans" to bring AI agents into Chrome. Relay's paying customers now have roughly a month to migrate their automated workflows to competing tools like Zapier, the very product Relay set out to replace.
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