Who would start a new search engine in this day and age? You'd need some really unique features which Google can't duplicate, and the only one which seems to have made it is DDG with their privacy promise.
Google's advantage is also its Achilles heel: it is incredibly general purpose and searches the entire web.
Now how much of the web is all that useful? If a search results page on Google is just Google's opinion of what they think you want, what happens if you use a similar-enough algorithm but narrow the scope of the web you index to something more likely to contain information you can actually use?
Google today isn't even as useful to me as Google was 10 years ago. It has noticeably gotten worse. There has to be a fairly large niche there that several more specialized search engines could find a home.
As someone has suggested, not a generalist search engines. In Europe I can remember at least a couple of "price comparators" that are way better than Goggle at finding local small online shops (i.e. shops smaller than the behemoth called Amazon).
Or for example the code search engine, but I don't think it's from an European startup.
So that the access to information is more democratic? What stops Google from suppressing certain information at the request of bureaucrats or corporations? When you have a choice you are more likely to see information from different sides. Of course most people won't bother, but suppressing choice can only end up sad.
Just as a side note: not every search engine is a direct competitor to Google. You can have vertical search engines serving a specific purpose. These can do very well by executing on a narrow use case. Something the Googles can’t do.
Now how much of the web is all that useful? If a search results page on Google is just Google's opinion of what they think you want, what happens if you use a similar-enough algorithm but narrow the scope of the web you index to something more likely to contain information you can actually use?
Google today isn't even as useful to me as Google was 10 years ago. It has noticeably gotten worse. There has to be a fairly large niche there that several more specialized search engines could find a home.