Browser Use: The Startup Making AI Smarter at Navigating Websites Raises $17M
And now, it's making headlines for another reason—raising a massive $17 million in seed funding. The investment round, led by Felicis’ Astasia Myers, also saw participation from Paul Graham, A Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners. Until now, Browser Use had been operating under the radar, but this funding changes everything.
A Tool That’s Shaping the Future of AI Agents
Founded by Magnus Müller and Gregor Zunic, Browser Use emerged from ETH Zurich’s Student Project House accelerator. Müller had spent years developing web-scraping tools, and when he met Zunic in 2024 while both were pursuing master’s degrees in data science, they clicked. Their big idea? Combining web scraping with data science to make AI agents more effective online.
Within just five weeks, they built a working demo—and it took off instantly. The response was so overwhelming that they decided to open-source it, making it freely available to developers worldwide.
At its core, Browser Use transforms a website’s layout—buttons, menus, and other elements—into a structured, text-like format that AI agents can easily understand. Most AI agents struggle because they rely on visual systems, processing websites as a series of screenshots. But this method is fragile—when websites update their layouts, AI agents break. Browser Use eliminates that problem by turning webpages into data that AI can read and act on with precision.
“Many websites constantly change their design, like LinkedIn, and that confuses AI agents,” Müller explained. “We convert websites into a format they can understand, so they can reliably complete tasks without breaking.”
The Growing Demand for AI-Friendly Websites
The demand for AI agents that can seamlessly interact with websites is skyrocketing. Over 20 startups in Y Combinator’s 2025 Winter batch are already using Browser Use. Companies are even approaching Müller and Zunic, asking how they can optimize their websites to be more AI-friendly.
For investors like Astasia Myers at Felicis, this is the future. She believes AI agents will soon become a crucial part of automating human tasks, and Browser Use is well-positioned to be a key player in this transformation.
“Web AI agents are the missing link between static, pre-trained models and the constantly evolving digital world,” Myers told TechCrunch. “Browser Use is building the foundation that will make AI automation truly scalable.”
With $17 million in funding and a rapidly growing user base, Browser Use is no longer just an experimental tool—it’s becoming an essential layer in AI’s ability to navigate the internet. And for Müller and Zunic, what started as an academic project is now shaping the future of how AI interacts with the web.
