A startup called Polar has launched an AI-first browser aimed at knowledge workers and has raised a $5.7 million seed round led by Madrona, according to a report on Wednesday.
CEO Kevin Jiang, who previously worked at Perplexity on its Comet product, said the first wave of AI browsers focused on changing default search and travel booking, which he argued was not a strong long-term proposition for mass consumers. “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.
Polar lets users schedule workflows, save prompts and assign tasks to agents based on open tabs. The company says it can be used by non-technical staff for sales, recruitment, marketing, research and business operations. The browser is free with a limited number of daily AI credits; subscription plans start at $20 per month for higher limits.
Sabrina Albert, a partner at Madrona, said automating tasks for knowledge workers is a huge market and that building a browser offers advantages in understanding user interactions and access to logged-in services. Other investors in the round include ex-GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, Phia founder Phoebe Gates, and Modal CEO Erik Bernhardsson.