When you think of business you think of London; the UK’s capital city and national business hub, but when it comes to starting a new business people are now starting to look elsewhere, with Birmingham being crowned the UK’s regional start-up capital for the seventh year running. Throughout 2020, 18,394 new enterprises opened their doors in the city, marking the highest volume of start-ups outside London. With new businesses looking to start their lives outside the capital, now is the time to start decentralising private capital towards these new regions in order to enable business growth and help boost the wider economy post-Covid.

Although the nationwide lockdown restrictions have impacted the rate of business formation across the UK, the West Midlands, alongside London, had the strongest recovery of any region, recording 62% growth in June. Now, it is more important than ever that investors look towards these regions that are sure to offer a plethora of new investment opportunities and ones that are going to enable future business growth to help tackle unemployment and assist in the resurgence of the UK economy. These businesses are central points of regeneration for our devolved economy to grow post-pandemic, and for that reason, decentralising funding pots across the UK and away from the capital is of paramount importance.

Small start-ups need all the help they can get at the moment, with many struggling to get their foot in the door. For entrepreneurs, it’s important to do research before setting up anywhere. One city that works for one business may not work for another, depending on the demographics and target audience. Reading things like this clickfunnels review can help small business owners to make the right decisions, along with comparing the market in different locations to determine the best options for them.

IW Capital have commissioned data to uncover different region’s sentiments to entrepreneurship and investment:

Key statistics:

– 57% of investors believe that UK cities outside of London are now rising as business hubs and will be of real importance post-Covid.

– 20% of people are now looking to start or are currently in the process of owning their own business; Southampton: 27%, Glasgow: 23%, Birmingham: 22%, Manchester: 22%, Liverpool: 22%

Luke Davis, CEO of IW Capital:

“It’s truly great to see that new businesses are looking start up in areas outside of London, but it’s now time for investors to decentralise their capital and look beyond to these the regions in order to enable future growth for this flurry of new business, which is sure to help boost the wider economy as it recovers post-Covid.

“Here at IW, we are looking to invest in community hubs outside the capital and have had great success with the hospitality venue, Rockwater in Hove. When raising investment for the business we were able to garner a significant amount of the capital from the local community itself, resulting in 1 million worth local investment out of the 3.7 million raised. If this can be achieved here, then I believe this is something that we can see happen in other regions across the country where these new businesses are looking to start up.

“Making growth investment more easily available to small businesses throughout the country and in these regions that are looking to grow should be a priority. The last time that the Government-backed EIS was extended, it resulted in a significant jump in private investment into small businesses. Replicating this effect with new, or increased, incentives would provide a much needed boost to a section of the economy that is most in need, and so we hope this will be addressed in the near future.”