Relay shuts down as founder Jacob Bank returns to Google as Chrome VP

Relay, an automation startup launched in 2021 as a Zapier competitor, announced its final closure. Paying customers will lose access on 14 September, and free customers were already disconnected on 15 August.

Founder and CEO Jacob Bank is returning to Google after a few years away, this time as VP Product of Chrome, a role that includes product responsibility and developer relations.

Bank knows the company well. He joined Google in 2015 after his scheduling app Timeful was acquired. For a little more than six years he led product for Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Chat before leaving to start Relay. His return now, in a more senior role, signals that Google sees Chrome as a central arena for AI agents, not just a side panel with a chatbot.

Relay tried to follow a Timeful-like path: automating repeat tasks, drafting documents, editing, and project management through workflows. The business model did not hold. The closure notice was issued in July, and the final deadline has now arrived. Bank wrote on X that “He has spent his entire career building tools that help people do more with AI without sacrificing personal creativity,” and that Chrome is “the perfect place to collaborate with agents.” The company reported that “Gemini has crossed a billion users.”

Google is already pushing Gemini into every corner. The model is integrated into Search, has fundamentally changed Google’s interface, and appears in Chrome as an optional assistant. According to the company’s latest report, Gemini has crossed a billion users. The open question is what Bank plans to do with Chrome as a platform for agents beyond the current layer. He promised “ambitious plans” and said more details will follow soon.

The shutdown of Relay adds to a wave of AI startups being reabsorbed by tech giants after failing to build independent revenue models. Bank did not invent the wheel; he is returning to a place where he has already built products, now with a mandate to embed agents into the world’s most widely used browser. If successful, Chrome could evolve from a simple web window to an active work environment. If not, it will be another stop in the career of someone who knows the round-trip well.