The AI browser race is entering a new phase. After spending much of 2025 trying to reinvent web search with built-in chatbots, startups are increasingly turning their attention to browser agents that can perform repetitive tasks instead of just answering questions. The latest company to embrace that change is Polar, a startup founded by former Perplexity engineer Kevin Zhang, which has raised $5.7 million in seed funding led by Madrona.
Unlike the first generation of AI browsers that targeted everyday consumers, Polar is designed specifically for information workers. Its premise is straightforward: instead of replacing Google Search, the browser aims to eliminate repetitive tasks performed by professionals in multiple browser tabs every day.
The next AI browser is not trying to replace Chrome
According to TechCrunch, Zhang believes that the first wave of AI browsers is mainly focused on replacing automated search engines or helping users complete occasional tasks such as booking flights and making restaurant reservations. Those features drew attention, but weren’t compelling enough to change long-term browsing habits.
“If you think about end users, they don’t book a flight or make a reservation every day or every week,” Zhang told TechCrunch. “There hasn’t been a strong impact for more users to go to the AI browser and find value in it. That’s why our AI browser isn’t focused on more users at all. We’re focused on where we think browser agents are really important, which is knowledge work.”
Polar reflects that philosophy. Users can assign tasks to AI agents based on their open tabs, save frequently used information, schedule recurring workflows, and automate all sales, recruiting, marketing, research, and business activities. The browser is designed for non-technical users, eliminating the need to write scripts or build custom automations.
The product follows the freemium model. Users receive a limited number of AI credits each day, while maximum use requires subscriptions starting at $20 per month. Zhang also told TechCrunch that many customers continue to use another browser for daily browsing and only launch Polar when they need automation.
AI browsers become AI partners
The launch of Polar highlights how quickly the AI browser market has evolved. By 2025, almost every major AI company wanted to build a browser with an integrated chatbot, hoping to control the interface through which people accessed the web. That strategy has changed.
OpenAI’s Atlas has disappeared, Browser Company Dia is focusing more on productivity, and browser startups including Strawberry, Browser Usage and Aside are building products that focus on AI agents rather than conversational search. Even Perplexity’s Comet, where Zhang previously worked, has switched to browser agents, according to TechCrunch.
Madrona believes that change opens up a huge opportunity. Partner Sabrina Albert told TechCrunch that information work represents an important dynamic market because browsers are already central to people’s digital workflow. Since users are already logged into the services they rely on every day, browsers provide AI agents with a natural environment to interact with those applications.
Polar still has to prove that professionals are willing to use a second browser dedicated to working for themselves. But if the next chapter of AI browsing is defined less by intelligent search and more by software that quietly completes the work in the background, Polar is betting that it has arrived at the right time.
