- Startpage was founded in 2006, in the Netherlands by Robert E.G. Beens and David Bodnick the founder of metasearch engine Ixquick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startpage.com)
VS. DuckDuckGo (DDG) was founded in 2008, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania by Gabriel Weinberg who previously founded Names Database (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_Database).
- HQ'd in the Netherlands ensuring worldwide users are protected by stringent EU and Dutch privacy legislation
VS. DDG based in the United States
- Startpage provides Google results
VS. DDG provides primarily Yahoo and BING results
- Startpage offers Anonymous View, a proprietary feature that lets users browse their search results privately via a protective proxy
VS. DDG does not have this feature, but has done well to design an intuitive and attractive experience.
Startpage is the first-ever private search engine, founded in the Netherlands. We offer Google search results without allowing Google to log your personal search history or build a profile about you. Our privacy policy is to never log, store or share your personal data.
Startpage goes beyond search with Anonymous View, our private browsing proxy that lets users view websites within their search results privately. Over the last 13 years, we’ve grown to become the world’s most private search engine protecting users’ data rights with Dutch and EU protective legislation.
Try a private search and our Anonymous View browsing feature at www.Startpage.com
Startpage has been a profitable business since 2006. We make money with contextual ads (based solely on your search query) vs. other search engines that make money with behavioral ads (based on your personal profile and browsing history). These contextual ads appear on the top of each search results page. As a condition of the investment terms, this will always be our business model on search. The investment we received will be used to reach more users worldwide.
Hey, Startpage here. We appreciate your concern. We would be wary ourselves of outside investment in a company that we trust and depend on. Startpage leadership spent a lot of time considering who to bring on as an investor. The System1 funds will allow us to grow our global user base and bring private search to more people.
To ensure that our mission and privacy practices do not change, the investment includes covenants that ensure Startpage’s founders in the Netherlands will retain complete control over all privacy-related decisions.
Hi Everyone, Startpage here. We are happy to answer any questions people have, please feel free to ask us.
To start, we’ve addressed some existing comments and questions with the information below. I’d also suggest reading this open letter about the acquisition from Startpage Founder and CEO Robert E.G. Beens (https://preview.redd.it/zher3ok6pct31.jpg).
- To ensure that our mission and privacy practices do not change, the investment includes covenants that ensure Startpage’s founders in the Netherlands will retain complete control over all privacy-related decisions.
- Robert still has final say over all product decisions, and Startpage will always be headquartered in the Netherlands.
- System1 invested in Startpage because they recognize increasing consumer demand for privacy-focused tools, not because they plan to alter Startpage’s core mission in any way.
- We will never compromise or weaken Startpage’s industry-leading privacy policy.
- We will not depart from Startpage’s core business model, which has been profitable since 2006. We make money with contextual ads (based solely on your search query) vs. other search engines that make money with behavioral ads (based on your personal profile and browsing history).
- The purpose of this investment is to allow Startpage to reach more users worldwide and advance our mission of making safe, private search available to everyone.
