900,000 new companies were incorporated in the UK in 2023, making it a record year for new businesses

London is experiencing a start-up boom, with over 31,000 new businesses starting up last year – a rise of 20% on the number of new companies registered in 2022.

This makes London the second fastest growing region in the UK for newly registered businesses in 2023, losing out on first place to Northern Ireland (+59%).

Six of the top 10 local authority areas for the number of new businesses incorporated in 2023 were also in London. Camden was home to the highest number of new businesses with 58,258 new incorporations. This was followed by Hackney, with 31,438 new businesses, and Islington, with 27,411 new businesses.

Last year the uplift in growth in London was driven a 72.3% year-on-year rise in the number of online retailer businesses, with 43,195 companies starting up. 18,196 new companies in the property letting space and 14,576 management consultancy companies were also incorporated in 2023.

The news comes as NatWest and Beauhurst’s New Startup Index reveals that 2023 was a record year for new company incorporations in the UK with 900,000 set up last year, a 12% increase on the number of new businesses registered in 2022.

The growth in female founded businesses also continues to increase year on year, with a record 164,000 companies incorporated by women in the UK in 2023, up 4% on 2022 and taking growth in the five years between 2019 and 2023 to 26% overall.

James Holian, Head of Business Banking at NatWest said, “It’s fantastic to see London continuing to benefit from the post-pandemic boom in start-ups seen across the country. These figures show London continues to be a magnet for entrepreneurs, with some of the boldest business ideas flourishing in the capital.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, accounting for three-fifths of employment and about half of the private sector’s turnover. As the UK’s biggest bank for business, we believe we have a key role to play in fostering an ecosystem where businesses are given the tools to start, scale and succeed.

“The NatWest Accelerator stands as a beacon of this commitment. In the past 12 months alone, this free initiative has supported 1,300 scale-up leaders of which more than half were female-led businesses and 21% ethnic minority-led ventures. Businesses can apply for our first cohort of 2024 at natwest.com/accelerator”