The Munich-based start-up Cliqz, a German provider of browser, privacy, and search technologies, will focus on two business areas from May 1st, 2020 onwards, closing the browser and search technologies areas.
Hubert Burda Media has placed its search technology Cliqz (now Tailcat) and relevant development team in the U.S. company Brave Software. As a result, Hubert Burda Media will receive a stake in – and become a partner to – Brave Inc. Like Cliqz, Brave exemplifies the vision of an open Internet, in which users retain full control of their personal data and are not subject to monitoring. Brave has developed the required technology for browsing, Cliqz for searching. The two technologies are now being integrated.
"We continue to promote browsers and search engines that do not harvest personal data. Simultaneously we need effective competition on core web functions such as searching and browsing – to break the dominance of the monopolies and ensure progress and prosperity in Europe." For many years, he adds, Burda has therefore sought to identify a suitable constellation in Europe. Now it has found a partner with the right philosophy in the United States. "We are very happy that our technology is being used at Brave to create a genuine, privacy-friendly alternative to Google."
Paul-Bernhard Kallen, Burda CEO
Since May a development team at Burda led by Josep M. Pujol has continued to work on the search technology under the new project name Tailcat. Along with this know-how, Brave will also be taking over the entire Tailcat team – with the objective of integrating Brave Search into the existing browser.
Over the past year, the Brave user base has grown significantly from 11 million active users a month to over 25 million, and management is anticipating a sharp rise in demand during 2021.
"More and more users are demanding real, privacy solutions to escape Big Tech’s invasive practices. Brave’s mission is to put the user first, and integrating privacy-preserving search into our platform is a vital step in this process."
Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave
Its aim is to ensure that user privacy is not plundered to fuel the socalled surveillance economy. "Privacy is becoming mainstream." Of that Eich is certain.
