Qikfox is more than just a browser. Not only does it protect consumers from the epidemic of online fraud, but it also has a mission to democratize content publishing and reach a large audience.
Qikfox has already raised seed funding from longtime venture investor Tim Draper and made it to TechCrunch Startup Alley this week.
Starting with a browser extension, the company has transformed into a fully feathered premium browser with its own search engine, virus repelling capabilities, and the “world’s first” decentralized identity system.
Qikfox founder and CEO Tarun Gaur said, “The motivation for developing it is that we don’t control what Internet browsers provide to consumers. Internet browsers are 4 billion. I’m hosting a web page, but the Internet didn’t anticipate a flood of such content.”
“Some internet browsers focus on developers and privacy, but you can’t solve privacy without first resolving security and security.”
The idea for Qikfox came from the tech-savvy mother of Gaul, who was the victim of an online scam by clicking on a fake Google ad. Qikfox employs 78 signals to ensure that online business is legitimate so that the populous baby boomers do not suffer the same damage.
“Our browser identifies these websites and blocks them from being accessed, which makes consumers less likely to be scammed,” Gaul said.
Qikfox’s virus repellent system not only scans and protects your browser, but also monitors your entire system. According to Gaul, Qikfox is the most secure browser on the market today. “Benchmarks overwhelm our competitors in terms of privacy and security,” he said.
Gaul previously founded Tringapps, a mobile and cloud-first turnkey software consulting firm. But he didn’t settle there. He is currently developing advanced features to detect counterfeit products on e-commerce websites like Amazon. There are also plans to make Qikfox a complete operating system in the long run.
But his ultimate mission is to make the Web more participatory and democratic by using zero-code content publishing and universally discoverable handles.
“There were many attempts to create a distributed Internet, but all failed, not because we didn’t have the technology, but because no one knew how to control spam. So we developed IPFS (it’s a technology that is a more innovative version of InterPlanetary File System), far beyond what today’s IPFS and distributed Internet technologies can do, for example, no domain name system is needed at all,” Gaul said.
Gaul has developed something called Smart Stacks to help non-technical consumers participate in the digital economy. It is a zero-code (no coding required) content publishing platform that makes content universally discoverable. “We want to create something that replaces what Google is doing in the cloud with decentralization,” Gaul said.
Qikfox costs $180 a year and is currently offered by invitation only in the North American region, but already has over 4,000 subscriptions. Gaul said he would like to introduce the browser to the UK and Europe in the next three months.