AI browsers saw rapid growth in 2025, but by 2026, the industry focus had shifted to agents and automation. TechCrunch reports that Polar, a startup founded by former Perplexity employee Kevin Jiang, is betting on this direction and has completed a $5.7 million seed funding round.
Product targeting knowledge work
Polar positions itself as an AI-first browser for knowledge workers, rather than a mass-market consumer product. Kevin Jiang, who previously worked on Perplexity's Comet project, believes that early AI browsers primarily compete for the default search entry point or attempt to handle low-frequency tasks like ticket booking and reservations using chat-like interfaces, thus limiting their long-term appeal.
Therefore, Polar focuses on scenarios such as sales, recruitment, marketing, research, and business operations. Users can schedule workflows, save prompts, and delegate tasks to agents based on currently open tabs. The company claims that this tool is also suitable for non-technical users.
Free to use and subscription available.
This browser is free to use, and users receive a daily credit for performing AI tasks. For a higher credit limit, a paid subscription is available, starting at $20 per month.
The company stated that most users currently use Polar as an automation tool while continuing to use other browsers for their daily internet browsing needs. This indicates that Polar is currently closer to a workflow automation entry point than a complete replacement for traditional browsers.
Seed round funding of $5.7 million
This funding round was led by Madrona, raising $5.7 million. Other investors included former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, Phia founder Phoebe Gates, Modal CEO Erik Bernhardsson, Flapping Airplanes co-founder Benjamin Spector, Etched co-founder Rob Wachen, and Fundamental Research Labs co-founder and CEO Robert Yang.
Madrona partner Sabrina Albert stated that the market potential for knowledge work automation is huge, but the challenge lies in building sufficiently reliable proxy capabilities in open website environments that require login. She believes that browsers have the advantage of directly understanding user interactions with websites and connecting to various services the user is already logged into.
Team betting on browser proxies
Polar stated that the company's long-term goal is to become a provider of automation tools, and the browser is currently one of the most suitable platforms. In addition to browsers, the team is also willing to explore other directions such as computer operation in the future.
