The venture seeks to deliver enhanced search results in French and German. Credit: earth phakphum/Shutterstock.

Ecosia and Qwant, two search engines challenging Google, have announced a partnership to develop a European search index, CNBC reported.

This collaboration is aimed at lessening their dependence on US big tech companies.

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The joint venture (JV), dubbed the European Search Perspective (EUSP), will be equally owned by both companies, with plans to launch in France by early 2025.

The JV seeks to deliver enhanced search results in French and German.

Ecosia, based in Germany, focuses on sustainability by planting a tree for every 50 searches.

France-based Qwant prioritises user privacy, ensuring no tracking or resale of personal data.

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Currently, Google is said to dominate the global search market with more than a 90% share.

Alternative search engines such as Ecosia and Qwant rely on existing tech from companies like Microsoft.

Ecosia CEO Christian Kroll mentioned that the project benefits from the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which mandates fair access to big tech platforms.

The new venture will build its search index from scratch, integrating results from various search engines.

Ecosia previously switched to a combination of Google and Bing results.

The new index will be “privacy-first”, utilising Qwant’s redesigned technologies from 2023, and will be available to other independent search engines and tech companies.

The news channel quoted Qwant CEO Olivier Abecassis as saying: “We are European companies and we need to build technology that makes sure no third-party decision – for instance, Microsoft’s decision to increase costs to access their search API [application programming interface] – could jeopardise our business.

“It is nothing against the US or US companies. It is all about the sovereignty of our business and companies,” he added.

Abecassis will serve as CEO of the new venture, which has yet to secure funding from external investors.