London leading the way for entrepreneurial spirit

London is leading the way for entrepreneurial spirit, with the city topping the latest Barclays Entrepreneurs Index.

The index, which monitors start-up activity, new business growth and the exits of young enterprises, showed that whilst the future of young businesses is uncertain, London is still the main driver of entrepreneurial activity.

Investment

The index showed that London is also leading the way for private equity investment, with the city having the highest ratio of private equity-backed companies to all companies in the country.

In addition, expansion funding in the city rose to £742m in 2016, up from £332m in the previous year, whilst the total amount of funding has risen by 70% year-on-year.

Whilst there has been a drop in venture capital investment in London, the city has seen a rise of 8% in the number of new enterprises compared with the previous year, and entrepreneurial activity in the city is the highest since the annual Barclays Entrepreneurs Index began in 2011.

Resilient

Despite entrepreneurship in London being affected by challenges such as uncertainty and venture capital investment dropping to its lowest level since 2011, the city has continued to be resilient, outperforming all other regions in the index.

The number of high-growth businesses in London stands at 1,529, a rise of 9% year-on-year. The index also showed that the city accounts for 37% of all high-growth companies in the UK.