Homegrown Web Browser Veera Crosses 1 Mn Users Mark

Homegrown internet browser Veera crossed the 1 Mn users mark within months of its Beta launch, its CEO and cofounder Arjun Ghose claimed in a post on LinkedIn.

The mobile-focussed browser, which was launched in September 2023, came out of its Beta phase in the next month. In his post, Ghose said that while in the Beta phase, the browser was being used by 20,000 people. At that time, the startup had an aim to hit 100K-150K users by Mar/Apr 2024. 

“Instead, what happened was that our users surprised us yet again. And pushed us to this incredible milestone. 1 Mn users and counting… I believe it’s all because we make a genuine effort to listen to our users, our champions, and continue bettering ourselves,” Ghose said in his post. 

Moving forth, the team behind the homegrown browser is eyeing to reach 1 Bn users in India. 

Founded by Ghose, Rahul Pagdipati, Aditya Julka and Kanu Gupta, Veera claims that the browser is optimised for a mobile experience while providing all the features that a desktop browser provides.

The browser gives awards for browsing, tailor-made content recommendations, and increased internet surfing speeds. It also has ‘Veera Kavach’, which enables a set of security and cookie-related protocols to offer an ad-free experience to users. 

The browser also blocks cross-site/third-party cookies, which enable Google and other advertisers to serve ads on other websites.Other features Veera offers include a homepage, which shows news links in the form of cards and in-browser games.

In February, the startup secured a seed funding of $6 Mn in a funding round led by Ayon Capital. Announcing the fundraise, the startup claimed that Veera had a user base of over 100K users soon after launch. 

Meanwhile, the app, on the Google Play Store, reflects 100K+ downloads.

The startup is looking to grab a share in the browser market which is currently dominated by Google. As of March 2024, Google Chrome commanded a market share of over 88%, according to Statcounter. Closest competitor to Google, Opera browser, commanded a meagre 3.9% share in the space. 

Commenting on the competition, Ghose said in the post, “I’d often wonder during those weeks if we had set too lofty a target for ourselves, whether users would appreciate the superior product we had painstakingly built, whether we as a tiny startup with limited resources and hands-on-deck would be able to make any headway whatsoever in a space dominated by a Goliath.” 

It is pertinent to note that last year Sridhar Vembu-led SaaS unicorn Zoho also launched a privacy-centred browser ‘Ulaa’.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.