The Chinese/Israeli startup behind the Maxthon Browser has sold a minority stake to Google. The total investment size is rumored to be around $1 million, according to TechCrunch. The investment is part of a larger strategic deal between the two companies, according to an unnamed source.

Maxthon has had over 80 million downloads of its browser, and over half of its users are in China. Maxthon-originated searches may account for up to 25 percent of Chinese search engine Baidu's traffic, according to one source.

TechCrunch says it expects the reported strategic deal to involve replacing the default search option in the browser from Baidu in China, and Yahoo in other countries, with Google search.

The deal may also go beyond search and involve integration with other Google services directly into the browser. Maxthon would then be promoted on Google as a preferred browser, according to the speculation.