The EU is reportedly considering plans to set up a €100bn to help European tech companies face up to competition from US and Chinese rivals.

Under proposed plans put forward by officials in Brussels, and seen by the Financial Times and Politico, the megafund could help EU tech firms rise to the challenge posed by the likes of Amazon and Alibaba.

It is hoped that such a fund would help to grow the number of European tech unicorns- companies valued at more than $1 billion.

There are a number of such firms already based in Europe including Skyscanner, Deliveroo and Spotify, but the aim is to rival countries such as the US, which is currently home to more than half of the total number of billion dollar startups.

If the initiative is taken up by Von der Leyen, it would have the potential to rival some of the most active private venture capital funds fuelling tech firms including SoftBank’s two Vision Funds, which have committed $97 billion and $108 million in capital to successful tech firms including Slack, Oaknorth and Greensill.

The publications reported that the project is part of a suite of policy ideas being set out for consideration by Ursula Von der Leyen, the incoming president of the European Commission, once she takes up the role on 1 November.

Such a fund would be used to make long-term equity investments in tech startups to help build European equivalents of Apple, Microsoft, Google and Tencent.

According to the reports, the documents set to be presented to president Von Der Leyen state that Europe’s relative lack of such companies “presents a risk to growth, jobs, and to Europe's influence in key strategic sectors.”

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