Brave Software, Inc., a startup dedicated to reinventing the web browser to produce a faster, more stable, privacy-centric and secure software, today announced it has raised $4.5 million in a seed round from venture capital firms and angel investors. Aside from integrating ad-blocking software while using enhanced script-control features, the Brave browser would also implement microtransactions using Bitcoin for anonymously paying websites and the browser could also place its own ads on websites (replacing ads already served).

Participants in this round included Founders Fund’s FF Angel, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Foundation Capital, and Digital Currency Group. The additional funds bring the total raised by Brave since November last year to $7 million.

“Online advertisers have been exploiting user data for years without consent, sometimes even infecting devices with malware. It’s no wonder that 200 million users worldwide have adopted ad-blocking to defend themselves. Viewing content on the Internet should not come at the expense of one’s safety,” said Brendan Eich, President and CEO of Brave Software.

In past years, users had very little control over their own experience when browsing the web and advertisements (like all other media from print to video) have always been part of that experience. Over time, marketers began to experiment with different methods of advertising moving from easily ignored static images to advertisements that would play audio, take over pages or grab focus. Advertisements have also been implicated in using cookies, browser fingerprinting and other methods to track users and collect information in order to better target marketing—which is at odds with user privacy.

These advances came in part with increased use of scripting languages, which also lead to advertising networks spreading malware. This quickly began to show that online advertising is not only becoming more bad for user experience; it’s also become dangerous to user security.

Screenshot via Brave.com

Generating revenue in an era of ad-blockers

To take control of the browsing experience, web users have turned to script and ad blockers in increasing numbers. According to a report by Buisness Insider, there are nearly 200 million monthly active users of ad-block software globally. Over 45 million of these users reside in the U.S. and this is up almost 45 percent since June 2015.

This trend has been cutting into revenue generated by websites that rely on advertisements and impressions viewed by visitors. Fitting to the purpose, an ad-blocker suppresses those impressions and thus reduces revenue—a cause for tension between websites who want advertisements to be seen and visitors who don’t want to be annoyed and tracked.

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal cited a report from Adobe Systems and PageFair that estimated an approximate loss of $22 billion in advertising revenue in 2015.

“The Brave solution fends off intrusive ads and stops the collection of personal details by third parties, enhancing not just browsing speed, but security and privacy,” Eich added. “With Brave, users can now fight back and keep their data private and defensible on their devices, while still supporting the content they wish to view via micropayments.”

To enable micropayments, Brave partnered with blockchain security company BitGo, Inc. and Bitcoin wallet and merchant processor service Coinbase, Inc. to provide wallets and purchasing tools for the company’s new payments system. That system, known as Brave Ledger, is a Bitcoin-based micropayments platform designed to allow users to automatically and anonymously pay users favorite and most-visited websites. It also allows users to opt into an ad-model that protects privacy and provides users greater control over how their information is provided.

The development beta version of the Brave browser is already available for Windows (7 and later, 32 and 64 bit), MacOS (10.9 and later) and Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE) on the desktop—as for mobile, the Brave browser can be downloaded for Android from the Google Play Store or Amazon.com and for iOS from the iTunes App Store.

The finalized 1.0 version is planned for launch later this year during September 2016.

Featured image credit: Brighter than Vegas via photopin (license)