--- title: AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins... description: Relay, an AI workflow automation startup founded in 2021 with ambitions of becoming the next Zapier, is shutting down operations, cutting off paying customers... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-automation-startup-relay-shuts-down-staff-joins-google-s-chrome-team-4aujpahcs twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team | daily.dev og:description: Relay, an AI workflow automation startup founded in 2021 with ambitions of becoming the next Zapier, is shutting down operations, cutting off paying customers... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-automation-startup-relay-shuts-down-staff-joins-google-s-chrome-team-4aujpahcs og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4AuJpAHCs.png og:image:alt: AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Relay, an AI workflow automation startup founded in 2021 with ambitions of becoming the next Zapier, is shutting down operations, cutting off paying customers on September 14 after free users lost access on August 15. Founder and CEO Jacob Bank is rejoining Google as VP of Product for Chrome, leading product and developer relations there, with plans to bring AI agent capabilities into the browser. The shutdown follows Google's broader push to integrate Gemini across its products, including Search and Chrome, with Gemini recently surpassing 1 billion users. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#automation](https://daily.dev/tags/automation), [#google-chrome](https://daily.dev/tags/google-chrome), [#google-gemini](https://daily.dev/tags/google-gemini) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-automation-startup-relay-shuts-down-staff-joins-google-s-chrome-team-4aujpahcs) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-automation-startup-relay-shuts-down-staff-joins-google-s-chrome-team-4aujpahcs","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-automation-startup-relay-shuts-down-staff-joins-google-s-chrome-team-4aujpahcs"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T21:28:11.910Z","dateModified":"2026-08-17T21:29:18.743Z","description":"Relay, an AI workflow automation startup founded in 2021 with ambitions of becoming the next Zapier, is shutting down operations, cutting off paying customers...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3fa1476a3107aa76c3d3a01032244693?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3fa1476a3107aa76c3d3a01032244693?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-automation-startup-relay-shuts-down-staff-joins-google-s-chrome-team-4aujpahcs","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"startup,automation,google-chrome,google-gemini","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team"}]} ```