Birmingham retains start-up crown

BIRMINGHAM had the largest number of businesses created in any city outside London last year.

The city had 17,473 new companies registered in 2016, according to data from StartUp Britain, which was a 25% increase on a year earlier.

It was the fourth consecutive year Birmingham had topped the league table, with the city having more start-ups than the next two biggest cities – Manchester and Glasgow – had put together.

Neil Rami, chief executive of inward investment agency Marketing Birmingham, said: “The city’s young, talented workforce, newly developed infrastructure, and range of incubator and accelerator programmes, has fostered a strong ecosystem that fuels a culture of innovation.

“Start-ups and SMEs are crucial to the long-term health of our local and national economy. Through access to finance, mentoring schemes and initiatives like the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Growth Hub, aspiring entrepreneurs can stay in Birmingham to fulfil their ambitions.”

The support on offer to start-ups in Birmingham includes incubators Entrepreneurs for the Future and Serendip Smart City, venture capital and loans provided by Finance Birmingham, and local community networks such as Silicon Canal. 

Steve Hollis, chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “Start-ups come – and stay – in Birmingham, not only because of the formal support they can access through for example, the region’s Growth Hub, but because of the skilled people they can employ, the cost efficiencies of being based here and the ecosystem of small to medium enterprises here.

“There is nothing like the support of peers, particularly those who are further ahead in the journey than you are.”