Maxthon, the group that has single-handedly kept Internet Explorer’s flame burning while Microsoft squandered years trying to snuff it, is finally reaching its pay day.

Charles River Ventures (CRV) has chucked US$5 million into the venture capital pot started by Copenhagen investor, Morten Lund, and WI Harper, a VC that specializing in early-stage Chinese investments. CRV focuses on start-ups working on mobility, the digitization of media and open-source.

Maxthon is a vision of what Internet Explorer might be: A tabbed, RSS-friendly platform supported by a thriving development community. Its Achilles heel over the years has been its reliance on the Internet Explorer executables beneath it.

The advent of Internet Explorer 7, which promises to be more stable and secure, is both good and bad for Maxthon. Stability and security are good, but IE7’s inclusion of tabs, a newsreader and other Maxthon/Firefox-like functionality may suppress IE-to-Maxthon migration.

But the Maxthon team believes its product’s high level of user customization, developer friendliness and “cool underground movement-ness” will be enough to keep it growing and IE7 at bay. Who are we to argue? The formula works great for Firefox.

CRV’s Bill Taylor is thrilled: “This team has the right vision for where the web will head, and has already implemented the first stage. We are excited to work with them to help fuel the next step and beyond.”

While Red Herring reports that Google and Baidu have been sniffing around the Beijing-based operation, the crew that needs Maxthon’s vision most desperately calls Redmond home.

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