The venture companies Kleiner Perkins and Index Ventures co-led the $740 million Series A investment, which also included participation from Khosla Ventures and other current backers. As AI agents gradually take over as the main users of the web, Parallel seeks to address what it perceives as a fundamental shift in internet usage. The company creates application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable AI systems to perform tasks by searching the live web for current information. According to Agrawal, its business clients use Parallel to power AI agents that generate software code, evaluate risk for insurance underwriting, and analyze customer data for sales teams—areas where internal systems and high-quality online data are essential.
“How many jobs are there where we could ask you to complete the same task without using the internet?” Newspaper was informed by Agrawal. “Why would you deny their agents access to the internet when you can’t deny an M&A lawyer access to it?” He stated that he thought the startup’s technology was better than the integrated online search features provided by AI-model suppliers. Parallel’s method produces optimized material, or “tokens,” intended to input straight into the context window of an AI model, in contrast to conventional search engines that rank links for users to click. According to the business, this method increases accuracy, decreases “hallucinations,” or erroneous information, and lowers operating costs for clients.
According to Agrawal, the additional funding will enable Parallel to “go all in” on client acquisition and product development. A portion of the funds will also be used to address the issue of web content being increasingly blocked by paywalls and login barriers to stop AI web scraping, as web owners—from social media platforms to publishers—see a drop in traffic as the emergence of AI chatbots alters how people obtain information. Although he did not elaborate, Agrawal stated that Parallel intends to create a new economic model known as a “open market mechanism” to encourage publishers to maintain content’s accessibility to AI systems. Parallel was established two years ago and began releasing its products in August 2025. In January 2024, the business raised $30 million.
