Polar, an AI-first browser startup focused on knowledge workers, announced in July 2026 that it has raised a $5.7 million seed round led by venture firm Madrona.
The company was founded by Kevin Jiang, who previously worked at Perplexity on its Comet browser. Polar allows users to schedule workflows, save prompts, and assign tasks to agents based on their open browser tabs. The company says the tool is accessible to non-technical users and is designed to support work in sales, recruitment, marketing, research, and business operations.
Jiang said the first wave of AI browsers focused on replacing default search and helping users chat with tabs for tasks like travel booking — a model he believes lacked staying power. “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,” he told TechCrunch. Polar is instead targeting knowledge work, where Jiang says browser agents provide more consistent value.
The browser is free to use, with a limited number of daily AI credits included. Users who need higher credit limits can subscribe to paid plans starting at $20 per month. Polar notes that most current users run its browser alongside a separate daily-use browser, primarily for task automation.
Sabrina Albert, a partner at Madrona, cited the advantages of building automation directly within a browser. “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.
The seed round also included participation from ex-GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, Phia founder Phoebe Gates, Modal CEO Erik Bernhardsson, and several other individual investors. Polar said it remains open to exploring other avenues beyond the browser, including computer use.
Source: TechCrunch