- Atlassian will buy The Browser Company for $610 million
- It wants to support the development of Dia, a new AI-powered browser
- The way we interact with the web will change, and legacy browsers aren’t fit
Atlassian is set to buy The Browser Company, responsible for Arc and Dia, for $610 million in cash.
The company says its first focus will be on improving the Dia browser by optimizing it for SaaS apps, but it will also integrate AI via browser-based context to help users “connect the dots between… apps, tabs and tasks.”
“Your current browser isn’t designed to help you move any of that work forward,” noted Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes. “It was designed before the explosion of SaaS apps, and well before the current AI revolution.”
Atlassian snaps up Arc and Dia for $610m
Despite the backing of a much larger software company, The Browser Company is set to continue operating independently.
The deal stemmed from discussions surrounding the enterprise readiness of Arc, used by Atlassian workers. Enhanced data privacy, security and management were missing in The Browser Company’s tools, thus Atlassian is stepping in to ramp these up, it says.
Cannon-Brookes also cited separate Gartner research which claims although 85% of the average employee’s day is spent in the browser, fewer than 10% have adopted a secure enterprise browser.
Gartner noted with a secure enterprise browser, IT admins can enforce security policies, reduce reliance on VPNs and VDIs and enhance visibility and reporting.
Speaking about Dia, The Browser Company claimed that “webpages won’t be the primary interface anymore.”
Instead, users will be interacting more with AI chat interfaces. However, “new interfaces start from families ones,” which is why Dia still resembles legacy browsers, thus requiring a smaller learning curve and supporting a longer-term transition.
Cannon-Brookes expects the combination of a “passion[ate]” browser builder and a software company that has a “deep expertise on how the world’s best teams operate” will result in a truly powerful next-generation browser.
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