By
Tolu Ajiboye
April 8th, 2024
The San Francisco-based browser startup has attracted $4.5 million investment from Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital and other prominent investors.
Brave Software, a company co-founded by Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, has secured a $4.5 million Brave browser funding from major investors and venture capital companies. According to the startup, the money will be used for the further development of the platform.
Created in 2015, Brave is an open source ad-blocking browser focused on the privacy of its users. Developers aimed to improve web browsing experience by blocking the ads that collect personal data and slow computers’ performance.
The latest Brave browser funding will bring the company’s total investments to $7 million. The investors taking part in the financing round include the Digital Currency Group, Propel Venture Partners, Founders Fund’s FF Angel, Foundation Capital, and Pantera Capital.
The browser includes a built-in technology that increases the page loading time, enhances performance and protects users from ads infected with malware. The browser will provide a 2x to 4x speed growth on mobile devices, while the speed of the desktop version will be increased by 40-60%.
Brave will also reduce both data and energy usage on mobile devices. Moreover, it offers a range of security features, including malware filtering, fingerprinting shields, encrypted data traffic through HTTPS Everywhere, script blocking and phishing protection.
“Online advertisers have been exploiting user data for years without consent, sometimes even infecting devices with malware. It’s no wonder that 200 million users worldwide have adopted ad-blocking to defend themselves. Viewing content on the Internet should not come at the expense of one’s safety,” said Brave Software CEO Brendan Eich in a press-release.
“The Brave solution fends off intrusive ads and stops the collection of personal details by third parties, enhancing not just browsing speed, but security and privacy. With Brave, users can now fight back and keep their data private and defensible on their devices, while still supporting the content they wish to view via micropayments.”
Cyan Banister, Partner at Founders Fund, expects the demand for the Brave Software’s technology will continue growing as people become more concerned with their privacy.
“Pantera is thrilled to be partnering with Brave to bring an enhanced user experience, privacy, and security to the browser,” said Pantera Capital’s CEO, Dan Morehead. “Brave is bringing an innovative model where users and publishers can get paid in real-time micropayments using the blockchain. We believe that Brendan and his team are best suited to execute on this vision.”
Amid the news about the Brave browser funding, the company has also announced the partnership with bitcoin processors Coinbase and BitGo to offer bitcoin purchasing instruments for Brave Ledger, the bitcoin-based system that pays users in digital currency for viewing ads. The users of the system, which was unveiled by the company in April, 2016, can also donate money to their favorite websites.
Brave Software is planning a 1.0 release of the browser next month, as it is now available in the developer version only.
