Record Number Reached

Friday the 13th was not an unlucky date for British start-up firms, as StartUp Britain revealed that 499,149 businesses had been started by that date, meaning that the target of 523,410 should be reached by the end of the year.

The figures, taken from the enterprise campaign’s Daily Tracker, which tracks the number of firms registered with Companies House on a daily basis, are a record for new businesses being started in the UK and compare favourably with last year’s total of 484,224.

The Daily Tracker shows today (December 16) that the half million mark has been surpassed, with 505,960 new enterprises registered at Companies House.

Meanwhile, a new online campaign called Growth Britain has been unveiled with the backing of Lord Young, Enterprise Adviser to the Government and Chairman of the StartUp Loans Company.

The brainchild of the Prelude Group, Growth Britain is aimed at inspiring and accelerating enterprise in the UK and builds on this year’s Global Entrepreneurship week’s slogan: ‘Take a Step Forward’.

The campaign invites the public to pitch their ideas and offer feasible solutions to what will help drive growth and positively shape the British enterprise landscape.

The independent and authoritative research from Growth Britain will highlight and deduce the key points in areas that have curbed the growth of enterprise in the UK and provide practicable solutions to these issues.

Users will be able to comment, vote and contribute their own ideas as well as challenging others and those with the contributions that have the greatest impact, will be invited to join Duncan Cheatle, Chief Executive of the Group and Lord Young at Downing Street to further explore their initiatives.

According to Mr Cheatle, the launch of the campaign marks the first time analysis of this kind has been conducted and he is confident it will contribute to the improvement of enterprise in the UK.