The state of UK businesses can be described as healthy as almost 700,000 new firms were launched in the UK last year, as growing high-tech firms snapped up more than £10bn in venture capital investment
Last year 681,704 new businesses were launched in Britain, a 2.8 per cent rise compared to a year ago, according to information gathered by LearnBonds.
The record number of start-ups in 2019 is noteworthy considering the UK was in its third year of prolonged Brexit negotiations, which has hit business investment and confidence.
UK tech firms attracted £10.1bn from private equity firms last year, a 44 per cent jump compared to a year ago which broke the industry’s all-time high set in 2017.
This UK figure topped global digital new business funding, including in the US and China, where investment fell 20 per cent and 65 per cent respectively, according to research this week from UK digital lobby group Tech Nation and data body Dealroom.
Top ten UK business regions – by new firms registered in 2019
Greater London – 221,373
Birmingham – 14,509
Manchester – 9,064
Leeds – 7,492
Glasgow – 6,733
Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch – 5,627
Bromsgrove – 5,522
Liverpool – 5,421
Edinburgh – 5,155
Leicester – 5,060
Across Europe, the UK picked up a third of Europe’s £30.4bn total tech funding. It attracted more cash than Germany and France combined, which came in second and third place at £5.4bn and £3.4bn across the region.
More widely in the UK, new firms were launched in over 700 different industries, according to the Centre for Entrepreneurs’ research. This included ten companies which registered their main activity as raising llamas and alpacas, as well as the formation of 429 driving schools in 2019.
“It is encouraging that despite a politically turbulent year in which business confidence hit new lows, business formations continued to set records,” said Matt Smith, director of policy and research at the Centre for Entrepreneurs.
Britain’s 5.9 million small firms employed 16.6 million workers at the start of 2019, turning over £2.2trn in annual sales, according to the Federation of Small Businesses.
LearnBonds news editor Roger Baird said: “The rate of new firms starting up in the UK is remarkable, considering how global trade tensions and Brexit have knocked business confidence. Napoleon once dismissed the British as a nation of shopkeepers. France now longs for the same level of entrepreneurial zeal that drives Britons to be their own boss.”
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.