Birmingham has suffered a huge drop in new startups – but remains the most entrepreneurial city outside London .
The number of new businesses launched in the city stood at 14,152 last year – close to double any other outside the capital.
However, this represented fall of more than 22 per cent from the 18,337 started in 2014.
Sue Summers, chief executive of Finance Birmingham, said the data was encouraging, given the national context, for the city despite the decline.
She said: “Although Birmingham recorded fewer new company registrations than in 2014, it remains a highly popular location for start-ups and entrepreneurs. The city offers a large, skilled and youthful workforce, established infrastructure and strong digital connectivity – all of which are critical to helping new ideas and ambitions flourish, particularly in the creative and tech sectors.”
The 14,152 companies started in Birmingham last year compares to 196,146 in London.
That compared to 8,712 in Manchester and 6,926 in Leeds, which were third and fourth on the list.
Elsewhere, there were 6,847 in Edinburgh and 6,644 in Glasgow.
