To create an alternative to Google? Who starts a search engine with this goal, this usually only reaps a tired smile. It also seems impossible to push the giant off the throne and even other big companies like Microsoft cannot do much about Google. Still, some brave people keep trying with their companies – and sometimes reach much more than they’ve been credited with.

When Duckduckgo started with a search engine, many were skeptical. At first it did not look very promising and nobody really talked about the company. The advantage that Duckduckgo offers to Google (anonymized storage of search queries), it probably wasn’t sexy enough. In recent years, however, that has changed and one milestone after another could be achieved. Various data scandals and discussions about Big Data certainly played into the hands of the company here.

It took seven years at the outset to reach 10 million search queries a day from the alternate search engine, but the next milestone was hit, 20 million queries two years later and today, a year later, Duckduckgo reports 30 million searches a day. The increase is enormous – but still far from Google, where more than 3 billion search requests a day should be received. But everyone starts small and if you look back on the development of Duckduckgo in recent years, you can also look positively into the future.

Investors have recognized this, and Duckduckgo founder Gabriel Weinberg recently received a $ 10 million investment from Canada for the search engine. This is intended to further increase growth and increase international visibility. It is interesting that this investment was repeatedly rejected by Duckduckgo founder Weinberg, since he actually does not need it. For several years, the company has been profitable – even if it disguises when displaying ads on user data to evaluate and use as a basis.

It’s definitely interesting to follow the company’s next steps and see where the journey is heading. In any case, in more and more website statistics Duckduckgo requests appear and that is a good sign for the success of the underdog.