Elon Musk Fired This Indian CEO In 2022, Now He's Back With $30 Million AI Startup

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2 days ago

Ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal launched AI startup Parallel Web Systems which claims that its Ultra8x engine can outperform GPT-5
Nearly three years after being ousted from Twitter on the very day Elon Musk took control, former CEO Parag Agrawal has returned to the tech spotlight with a new venture in artificial intelligence. Agrawal founded Parallel Web Systems Inc, a Palo Alto–based startup that aims to transform the way AI systems conduct online research.
Launched quietly in 2023, the company has already begun to draw attention from top investors. Backed by Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, and Index Ventures, Parallel has raised close to $30 million in funding. The team currently consists of around 25 members working out of California's technology hub.
At its core, Parallel is building a cloud-based platform designed to help AI agents search the internet, gather information, cross-check it, and verify its accuracy. According to a company blog post, the system is powered by eight different 'research engines". The fastest engine can compile results in under a minute, while the flagship engine, known as Ultra8x, is capable of conducting deep, half-hour research sessions.
What has stunned industry watchers is Parallel's performance in independent benchmarks. The company claims Ultra8x outperformed OpenAI's GPT-5 by more than 10 percent on tests such as BrowseComp and DeepResearch Bench, metrics that measure how effectively systems can search, analyse, and contextualise information. In some cases, Parallel's engine reportedly even surpassed human researchers.
Agrawal's new company is targeting a broad range of use cases. AI-powered coding assistants could use Parallel to pull real-time code snippets from GitHub, while retailers might deploy it to track rival product catalogs. Market analysts could automate the tedious task of compiling reviews and reports into spreadsheets.
Developers, too, have the option to integrate Parallel's technology into their own products through three distinct APIs, one of which is optimised for chatbots requiring ultra-low latency.
For Agrawal, who was once abruptly shown the door at Twitter, the move marks an ambitious comeback in the highly competitive AI race. With $30 million already in hand and claims of beating industry leaders at their own game, Parallel is now being closely watched as one of Silicon Valley's most intriguing new entrants in artificial intelligence.
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