FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration created on June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
(Reuters) -Atlassian said on Thursday it will acquire New York-based startup The Browser Company for $610 million in cash, moving into the fast‑crowding market for AI‑driven browsers.
Shares of the San Francisco-based company fell about 2%.
Startups and incumbents are racing to embed agentic AI features to browsers, turning them into a workspace that summarizes pages and takes actions for users.
The New York-based startup's Dia browser, which was launched earlier this year, faces tough competition from the likes of Nvidia-backed Perplexity's Comet and Brave's Leo.
Atlassian plans to make Dia its go‑to browser for work, designed to pull together tasks and tools from across the web and add context in enterprise environments.
Microsoft's Edge browser, bundled with Copilot, has become a staple in enterprise environments due to its integration with Microsoft 365 and built‑in security controls, making it one of the most widely deployed corporate browsers.
But Google's Chrome still dominates the market, holding about 69% share in August, according to Statcounter.
The Browser Company, founded in 2019, had released the Arc and Dia browsers. It closed a $50 million Series B round that valued the startup at $550 million last year, according to Pitchbook data.
Atlassian's venture capital arm had invested in the startup's $75.5 million Series A round in 2023. Salesforce Ventures, Figma CEO Dylan Field and former Instacart CEO Fidji Simo were among its investors.
The team-collaboration software maker said it will fund the deal using cash from its balance sheet. Atlassian had $2.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the June quarter.
The deal is expected to close in Atlassian's fiscal second quarter, which ends in December, subject to regulatory approvals, and is not expected to be material to results in fiscal year 2026-2027.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
