I would struggle to find the references, but supposedly google keeps their teams separate, which is why using google analytics and google chrome don't talk to each other.
Either way DDG is a pretty solid search engine, useful as a second source if google aint working for you.
I switched to it from Firefox (after switching months ago from Chrome) due to Firefox being slow, tabs repeatedly crashing, UX disharmony, and the recent cert addon debacle.
Brave's ad proposition makes sense: the internet is inundated with ads, which is unpleasant, but free websites do need to survive. So, make the ad landscape nicer on an opt in basis.
They take privacy seriously. I'd recommend it.
I've just started using Vivaldi and I am very impressed. It's what Chrome should have evolved into.