New findings from the 2025 UK StartUp Report reveal that the UK is an entrepreneurial nation with founders launching businesses faster than ever
Entrepreneurs feel undervalued with persistent disparities in access to finance, networks and scale-up support particularly for women founders and businesses outside the UK’s most prosperous nations and regions, shows new research.
While the 2025 UK StartUp Report points to a business founder community that is confident, ambitious and opportunity-driven, business founders frustrated by fragmented support and a perception that entrepreneurship remains undervalued by society and government.
The report confirms that entrepreneurship in the UK continues to be driven by opportunity rather than necessity, with founders motivated by independence, creativity and ambition. It also shows that UK founders are highly educated: 70% are university graduates, including 27% with a master’s degree and 5% with a PhD.
Speed to market is now defining the start-up mindset. Nearly seven in ten founders (69%) launched their business within a year of developing the initial idea, including 25% who went from concept to launch in under three months. The home remains the dominant base for entrepreneurship, with 68% of start-ups launched and initially operated from the founder’s residence, reflecting flexibility enabled by digital infrastructure.
Artificial intelligence is now embedded across early-stage business activity, with 72% of founders reporting they already use AI in their operations. Adoption is highest among tech founders (79%) and younger founders (76%), underlining how rapidly AI has moved from emerging technology to a mainstream business tool.
Despite a growing range of finance options, most founders continue to bootstrap: 91% relied on personal or self-funding to start their business. While the majority of start-ups begin with modest capital – 40% required less than £10,000 – the report shows clear inequalities. Women founders (46%) are more likely than men (35%) to start with under £10,000, while founders in more prosperous regions are twice as likely to raise £100,000 plus.
Encouragingly, investment ambition is high, with 57% of founders planning to raise external finance in the next 12 months. However, the report highlights that access to angel, venture and innovation funding remains concentrated among better-networked founders, particularly in tech and in more prosperous regions.
Founders are clear about the operational support they need most, including bookkeeping (60%), tax filing and compliance (56%), financial forecasting (44%) and cash-flow management (38%).
Demand for legal support is also significant, led by contracts (53%) and intellectual property (43%). Marketing needs are widespread, with 62% seeking help in PR and reputation management. Yet, despite the range of initiatives available, the report concludes that the support landscape remains hard to navigate, often siloed, and too frequently focused on compliance rather than growth.
While founders are optimistic about opportunity, perceptions of recognition are low with only 29% believing that most people view starting a business as a desirable career choice, and only 27% feeling that successful entrepreneurs are appreciated by society. Worst of all, only around one-third believe government values entrepreneurs’ contribution to the economy. In contrast, 88% believe entrepreneurship should be taught in schools, colleges and universities, signalling a strong appetite for enterprise education as a route to widening participation.
According to the author of the report, Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, the story of the 2025 UK StartUp Report is one of resilience and reinvention with founders being more diverse, more digital, and more globally connected than at any time in the past and yet they continue to operate within an ecosystem that has not fully caught up with their pace.
He said: “The UK has no shortage of ideas, talent or ambition. What we’re missing is a support system that matches the pace of modern entrepreneurship – consistent, connected and genuinely inclusive. If we want more start-ups to become scale-ups, we must democratise access to finance, ensuring funding reaches underrepresented founders and regions and build integrated support ecosystems, to align the support needed by entrepreneurial firms. It also means making enterprise a core part of curricula at every level and championing founders culturally by celebrating entrepreneurship as a driver of prosperity and community renewal.
“The next phase of the UK’s entrepreneurial evolution must focus on depth, not just numbers and ensuring that every founder, regardless of gender, location or background, can access the finance, skills and recognition needed to build a business that lasts. As we know entrepreneurship has always been one of Britain’s greatest strengths and the challenge now is to treat it not as a by-product of the economy but as a cornerstone of its future”
