Parag Agrawal, the former Indian-origin CEO of Twitter, before tech billionaire Elon Musk took over, has joined the artificial intelligence (AI) race by securing $30 million for his start-up, the media has reported. After being dismissed by Twitter's owner, Musk (now called X), in late 2022, Agrawal successfully raised approximately $30 million in funding for his AI start-up, says a report from The Information.
The report added that Vinod Khosla-led Khosla Ventures, an early backer of OpenAI, “led the funding in Agrawal’s company, which hasn’t been publicly disclosed."
Agrawal's AI start-up is developing software tailored for developers working on large language models, such as those popularised by OpenAI's viral ChatGPT, as well as catering to customers using these models. However, details about the specific product and the start-up's name remain undisclosed.
To recall, Agrawal, along with former policy lead Vijaya Gadde and other executives, secured $1.1 million in legal fees from Elon Musk-led X Corp late last year. In October 2022, Musk conveyed the termination of Agrawal, Gadde, and former Twitter CFO Ned Segal, as he assumed control of the micro-blogging platform for $44 billion.
Reports indicate that these three executives were entitled to an exit package ranging between $90-100 million upon leaving Twitter. Agrawal was expected to receive the largest payout, approximately $40 million, primarily due to the complete vesting of his shares upon termination.
Meanwhile, X, formerly Twitter, has launched a new basic tier subscription for verified organisations, which is designed for small businesses.
The new basic tier is priced at Rs 16,790 per month, or Rs 1,68,000 annually, this subscription is 80 per cent more affordable than the "full access" subscription, which is priced at Rs 82,300 per month. The company made the announcement via a post on X.
With the new basic tier, verified organisations on X can now obtain a gold check-mark badge and several other benefits, all for $200 per month, which is a significant reduction from the $1,000 per month cost of the "full access" subscription.