Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Secures $30 Mn For AI Startup: Report
Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, ousted by Elon Musk in late 2022, has re-emerged in the tech scene by securing USD 30 million in funding for his new artificial intelligence (AI) startup, according to a The Information report.
The fundraising effort was reportedly led by Khosla Ventures, headed by Vinod Khosla, a notable early supporter of OpenAI. Agrawal's venture, focused on developing software for large language models, has drawn investments from other prominent firms, including Index Ventures and First Round Capital.
The details of Agrawal's startup and the allocation of funds have not been publicly disclosed, but The Information sources suggest its core mission revolves around aiding developers working on extensive language models, akin to OpenAI's widely known ChatGPT.
In the aftermath of their dismissals, Agrawal, alongside former policy lead Vijaya Gadde and ex-Twitter CFO Ned Segal, secured USD 1.1 million in legal fees from Musk's X Corp. The trio's departure from Twitter came as Musk took control of the micro-blogging platform in a notable USD 44 billion acquisition. Reports indicate that Agrawal's exit package amounted to the largest sum, reaching around USD 40 million, primarily due to the vesting of his entire share holdings upon termination.
