Privacy is hot: Antitracking startup Disconnect nabs $3.5M from FirstMark

With privacy concerns at a new high following revelations related to PRISM, it makes sense for VCs to invest in companies aiming to improve online privacy. Antitracking app maker Disconnect falls into that category, and it just raised $3.5 million in new funding.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Disconnect builds applications that promise to make online browsing faster and more secure. The company’s latest app, Disconnect 2, is a browser extension for Safari and Opera that lets users better understand and block more than 2,000 third-party sites that track browsing histories. (We hope Chrome and Firefox extensions for Disconnect 2 are coming soon, but Disconnect 1 is available.)

“Increasingly, people want to know who’s tracking them online and want to have a say about what information is being collected about them,” Disconnect cofounder Casey Oppenheim said in a statement.

Disconnect also announced today that it has been certified as a B Corporation, which shows the company is dedicated to social responsibility.

The new funding round was led by New York City-based FirstMark Capital. This brings Disconnect’s total funding to $4.1 million.

“As recent events have emphasized, we believe online privacy is a ‘megatrend’ that will be an increasingly important issue for more and more people for many years to come, and we believe Disconnect will continue to lead in the space,” FirstMark Capital managing director Rick Heitzmann said in a statement.

Another service based on privacy that has benefited from the PRISM hoopla is the search engine DuckDuckGo, which just had its best week ever.

Check out the video below for more on Disconnect.

Screenshot via Disconnect/YouTube