I doubt this is the case. They were working on a prototype back in October 2023 [1], but then the contractor bailed out [2], but now they got (probably different) people working on it now
This is not true. The only way they will be earning money from Orion is through an optional "Orion Pro" subscription of $5 dollars a month, or $50 dollars a year. This gives you direct communication to the developers, allows you to influence the development of the browser, and have access to a nightly builds of Orion. Check it out here: https://browser.kagi.com/faq.html#business