DuckDuckGo will be making more early-stage investments in privacy-focused startups

DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search alternative to Google, wants to put money into startups that have a similar focus on privacy.

The company says that it’s actively seeking startups looking for investment, or startups that might be interested in partnering up or being acquired. In a blog post today, the company name-checked its SVP of finance, Mike Marino, and director of corporate and business development, Diana Chiu, as points of contact for those interested.

DuckDuckGo writes:

“For early-stage investments, we are flexible on deal structure, aim to move quickly and are happy to co-invest with other companies, funds, and individuals. For acquisitions, we are open to a range of companies that share a commitment to protecting user privacy.”

Founded in 2008, DuckDuckGo is the handiwork of CEO Gabriel Weinberg (pictured) who funded the company himself for the first three years before landing its first external cash injection in 2011. In the intervening years, DuckDuckGo attracted some $180 million in external investment (a fair chunk of which came from the secondary market), with backers including Tiger Global, Union Square Ventures, and individuals such as WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton and web-inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

DuckDuckGo, which says it has been profitable since 2014 and has had more than $100 million in annual revenue since at least 2021, positions itself as the antithesis of Google, monetizing through ads based only on the content of keyword searches rather than user data. It also makes money through “non-tracking” affiliate partnerships with the likes of Amazon and eBay. More recently, the company has expanded further beyond search, offering subscription bundles that include features such as a VPN.

Private money

While DuckDuckGo has historically donated to privacy-focused non-profits such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Signal Foundation, and The Markup, it has quietly been taking a more capitalistic approach to how it supports organizations that align with its own goals. Last month, the company joined a $50 million funding round into generative AI search company You.com, alongside big-name backers such as Nvidia and Salesforce Ventures.

Part of DuckDuckGo’s newly-launched Privacy Pro bundle also includes a personal information removal service, whereby it scans data broker sites to find personal data and requests removal on the user’s behalf. As things transpired, this service was powered by a startup called Removaly, which DuckDuckGo had quietly acquired back in 2022.

A DuckDuckGo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company has invested in six startups over the past three years, though would only name You.com, Removaly, and one hitherto unknown one — an AI model training platform called EverArt.

While consumer privacy tech will be a large focus for its investments, DuckDuckGo also said it will be investing in companies focused on “search and browse,” as well as “emerging technologies” like generative AI. Indeed, its recent investment in You.com checks all these boxes, as it offers a “zero-trace” private search mode that You.com claims is “even more private than DuckDuckGo.”

So while DuckDuckGo has been dabbling in the VC and M&A domains already, it’s now doubling down on these efforts by actively requesting that suitable startups reach out.

As with other corporations with investment off-shoots, from big guns such as Google through smaller tech companies like Twilio and Workday, DuckDuckGo will be investing from its balance sheet — that’s where its profitability and annual revenues come into play. But given that it’s still a relatively small private company in its own right, it won’t be joining megabucks pre-IPO funding rounds — this is all about early-stage investments.

“This is the first time we’ve talked about our investments and the overall strategy around it directly,” the spokesperson continued. “We wanted to make this announcement to formalize this work that has been happening behind the scenes for a while, and signal to startups, potential partners, and the larger tech community that our door is open to anyone who wants to work with us on a more private Internet.”