New year’s resolution to start a business? You’re not the only one, it seems

The number of new businesses being set up is expected to surge today as the New Year spirit bolsters Brits to hold true on resolutions.

According to data from Virgin Startup, the first Friday of January is a peak time for entrepreneurs to begin their start-up journeys thanks to New Year’s resolutions and the increased downtime between Christmas and New Year.

Virgin Startup, which calls today ‘Founder Friday,’ says it has seen a spike in website traffic on the first Friday of the year for the past two years, and expects another spike today.

Indeed, January as a whole proves one of the most popular months to start a business, with loan provider Start Up Loans saying it saw a 56 per cent increase in loan applications in January last year, while data on business registrations shows the creation of new businesses has consistently been the highest in the first quarter for the last six years.

London has become a start-up capital in Europe – with those that turn into scale-ups recording record venture capital investments in 2022.

“As a New Year begins, we have historically seen January to be a peak period for founders looking to get their business idea off the ground. Many will have used the time between Christmas and New Year wisely to do their research and see where their business fits within the marketplace,” Andy Fishburn, managing Director at Virgin Startup, said.

The expected surge in business creation today comes amid a wider trend in entrepreneurial spirit, with more than one in four UK adults planning to launch a business in 2023, according to a survey by Virgin Startup. Londoners proved particularly keen to become their own boss, with 47 per cent saying they were considering launching their own business in the coming year.