Perplexity employee who worked on Comet launches an AI browser aimed at knowledge work
Quick Answer
Polar, a startup founded by ex-Perplexity employee Kevin Jiang, has launched an AI-first browser targeting knowledge workers, raising $5.7 million in seed funding.
Quick Take
Unlike previous AI browsers, Polar focuses on automating workflows and task management for non-technical users, offering a free version with daily credits and subscription plans starting at $20 per month.
Key Points
- Polar's AI browser is designed specifically for knowledge workers, not mass consumers.
- Users can automate tasks and manage workflows with open tabs in the browser.
- The browser is free with daily credits; subscriptions start at $20/month for higher limits.
- The startup aims to leverage browser capabilities for task automation in various fields.
- Investors include notable figures like ex-GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke and Madrona's Sabrina Albert.
DeepSignal Analysis
What happened
Polar, a startup founded by Kevin Jiang, has launched an AI-first browser designed for knowledge workers, securing $5.7 million in seed funding. The browser emphasizes automating workflows and task management, distinguishing itself from previous AI browsers that targeted general consumers. Users can access a free version with daily credits or opt for subscription plans starting at $20 per month.
Key evidence
- Polar's AI browser is aimed specifically at knowledge workers, unlike earlier AI browsers that sought to attract mass consumers.
- The startup raised $5.7 million in seed funding, led by Madrona, indicating investor confidence in its market potential.
- Users can utilize the browser for automating tasks while maintaining their primary browser for daily use, suggesting a dual-browser approach.
Why it matters
The shift towards automation in knowledge work represents a significant trend in the tech industry, as companies seek to enhance productivity through specialized tools. Polar's focus on non-technical users may fill a gap left by previous AI browsers that failed to resonate with the general public. This could lead to broader adoption of AI tools in professional settings, potentially transforming how knowledge work is conducted.
📖 Reader Mode
~3 min readAI browsers were all the rage in 2025. Companies large and small tried to build browsers that baked in AI in an effort to own the interface people use to browse the internet.
How the turns have tabled. Today, OpenAI’s Atlas is history, and The Browser Company sold to Atlassian, with its Dia browser now focusing on productivity use cases. Firefox tried to strike a balance in its own AI efforts by providing an off-switch, but it got shouted at anyway.
This year, the focus has shifted to agents and automation. Startups like Strawberry, Browser Use, and Aside are building browsers with an agentic slant, and even Perplexity’s Comet has moved towards providing browser agents.
Amid this change, a startup called Polar has come out with an AI-first browser aimed at knowledge workers, and it has now raised a $5.7 million seed round led by Madrona.
CEO, Kevin Jiang, who previously worked at Perplexity on Comet, said the first wave of AI browsers aimed to change default search for users and have them chat with tabs for doing tasks like travel booking, which wasn’t a strong long-term proposition.
“If you think about end-user consumers, they don’t book a flight or make a reservation every day or every week. There wasn’t a strong pull for mass consumers to go to an AI browser and find value in it. That’s why our AI browser is not focused at all on mass consumers. We’re focused on where we think browser agents are actually valuable, which is knowledge work,” Jiang told TechCrunch.
With Polar, users can schedule workflows, save prompts and assign tasks to agents based on their open tabs. The company says the browser can be easily used by non-technical users, and can help with work like sales, recruitment, marketing, research and business operations.
The browser itself is free to use, and you get a few daily credits to spend on AI tasks. Users that want higher credit limits can pay for subscription plans starting from $20 per month.
Polar says most of its current user base just uses its browser for automating tasks while using another browser as their daily driver. The startup’s goal is to become a tool for automation, and it believes that the browser is currently the best way to do it. Still, it is open to exploring other avenues, such as computer use.
Sabrina Albert, a partner at Madrona, said automating tasks for knowledge workers is a huge market.
“I think that the hard part is building really reliable agentic work on the open, logged-in web. Building a web browser has a whole set of different advantages of understanding how users interact and engage with websites. Plus, they are logged into most of these websites, giving the tool access to services they use the most,” she said over a call.
The round also saw participation from ex-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.
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Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.
You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing im@ivanmehta.com or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.
— Originally published at techcrunch.com
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