UK startups and their founders were not short of obstacles amid a tumultuous 2022.
The UK economy experienced some of its toughest years in 2020 and 2021. As a result of the global financial crisis and skyrocketing prices combined with supply chain issues, UK startups were not immune to these problems – take British energy startup Bulb, which was Europe’s fastest-growing company just months before it collapsed.
Most interesting UK Startup Statistics for 2022
- The United Kingdom has 122 unicorn startups – just behind the United States and China.
- 248 more companies are classified as “future-corns.”
- In the first five months of 2022, UK tech startups raised £12.4bn.
- At the start of 2021, the UK had 5.6 million privately held companies.
- London has over one million business enterprises.
- In 2020, the average amount raised in crowdfunding campaigns was £11,418.
- Women lead only 14% of startups and SME businesses in the UK.
- Birmingham was the UK’s regional startup capital for the last seven years.
- The average five-year startup survival rate in the UK is 42.4%.
- On average, 60% of UK startups fail within the first three years.
- 38% of UK startups fail because they run out of cash.
The private sector
By October 2022, the private sector in the UK had a combined turnover of £4.16 trillion, but they had experienced a £290bn decrease compared to 2021.
The best UK tech startup is in food delivery
The competition in the delivery market is fierce, but ambitious startup Zapp, launched in November 2020 as a food delivery company, leads the list of the best tech startups in the UK. In spite of the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures, many Britons still order groceries online. In light of this, it’s not surprising that Zapp has already raised more than £181m.
Tech startups
In the first three months of 2022, the United Kingdom’s tech startups attracted a record-breaking £9 billion in investment, overtaking India and China. The second half of the year could still show that investors took a cautious approach to tech startups.
New startups
The UK business birth rate dropped to 11.9% in 2020.
During the pandemic-ridden 2020, entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom suffered multiple setbacks. Therefore, it’s not surprising that business births decreased from around 390,000 in 2019 to 358,000 in 2020.
The London ecosystem is the king of startups
London attracts more than a third of the total investments for UK tech startups.
London has over one million business enterprises
The wider London area is a significant player in the global business scene, so it’s not surprising that it also dominates the British economy.
In 2022, London’s number of registered enterprises exceeded the one million mark.
The estimated value of the London startup ecosystem is $47 bn.
As active as other cities might be, tin the United Kingdom. After all, it shares third place with Beijing on the list of the top-rated Startup Hubs on the planet, after Silicon Valley and New York City.
For example, London hosts 4,489 investment companies, 250 startup incubators, and nearly 200 accelerators, supporting an estimated 6,900 UK enterprises.
Startup funding
High-value scaleup firms drive the UK tech industry. For instance, these startups received 80% of the £6.3bn investments in UK tech in 2018.
In 2020, the average amount raised in crowdfunding campaigns was £11,418.
Many UK entrepreneurs rely on crowdfunding as an alternative option for financing their businesses and projects. Moreover, the United Kingdom is among the leading countries per average amount raised in crowdfunding campaigns.
Why do startups fail?
According to the latest data, approximately two out of ten UK startups fail within the first twelve months. For instance, most businesses (38%) face financial difficulties, i.e., they fail to attract investors and raise new capital, thus running out of cash.
Likewise, 35% of startups fail because there is no market need for their product/service, 20% are outcompeted, and 19% go under because of a flawed business model.
Credits to Darko Radić at Moneyzine for the research and statistics in his full article here.
