Google is getting a new Chrome product chief from the startup graveyard: Jacob Bank, whose AI workflow company Relay is closing down, will run product and developer relations for the browser.
Relay’s shutdown has been staggered. Free accounts died August 15; paying customers lose access September 14. The company had pitched itself as the next Zapier when it launched in 2021, automating document drafting, copyediting, and project management for businesses, with Andreessen Horowitz among its backers.
Bank is a returnee. Google acquired his scheduling app Timeful in 2015, and he spent years running products such as Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Chat before founding Relay. He described Chrome as a natural home for agent collaboration, hinting that browser-level AI features are on the way.
The hire deepens Google’s existing agent push: Gemini already lives in Chrome as an optional assistant, and the company recently put the app past 1 billion users.
For founders, the episode reads as another data point in the agent-tooling shakeout, where independent automation startups are getting absorbed by the platforms they once complemented. For Google, it is a cheap way to buy product talent and AI-era instincts in one move.
