2 search startups are joining forces to challenge Google’s dominance

Emerging search engines Ecosia and Qwant are joining forces to create an independent European web index, challenging the dominance of Google and Microsoft Bing while aiming to deliver search results that better reflect European values and environmental priorities.

Strategic partnership details: Berlin-based Ecosia and Paris-based Qwant are establishing a joint venture called European Search Perspective (EUSP) to develop their own web index.

• The partnership will be equally owned by both companies, with Ecosia providing funding and data while Qwant contributes labor resources
• Technical infrastructure will be supplied by OVHcloud, which shares ownership with Qwant
• The initiative aims to reduce dependency on Google and Bing’s search results, which currently power both platforms

Market dynamics and competitive landscape: The search engine market is heavily dominated by Google and Microsoft, who together control approximately 95% of global search outside China.

• Ecosia maintains roughly 1% market share in France and Germany with 20 million global users
• Qwant reports approximately 6 million users
• Recent developments like ChatGPT and TikTok are already reshaping how users conduct searches
• Bing’s increased licensing fees have pushed smaller search engines to seek alternatives

Technical challenges and implementation: Building a competitive web index presents significant technical hurdles, particularly given Google’s decades of experience and refinement.

• The venture plans to begin testing in France in early 2025 and expand to Germany by late 2025
• EUSP aims to achieve competitive search result speeds through testing and optimization
• Technical advances have made indexing more affordable than in previous years
• New EU regulations limiting major tech platforms’ power make the timing favorable

Differentiation strategy: The partnership aims to customize search results according to specific values and regional preferences.

• Ecosia plans to prioritize environmentally-friendly results, potentially de-ranking unsustainable companies
• Current limitation of licensed results prevents showing preferred options, such as train travel over flights
• The venture is open to outside funding and licensing its index to other companies, including AI developers

Potential opportunities: Success stories from other markets demonstrate the viability of regional search alternatives.

• South Korea’s Naver has captured over 50% market share by better serving local users
• Underserved markets like Ethiopia present opportunities for specialized search solutions
• Current search experiences in Ethiopian languages often produce irrelevant or inappropriate results

Looking ahead: While facing substantial technical and business challenges, this European search initiative represents a significant step toward digital sovereignty and value-aligned search results, though success will largely depend on the venture’s ability to deliver competitive performance while maintaining financial sustainability through advertising revenue.