Start-ups in the financial industry among the most successful
Top 10 Industries with the Longest Lasting Start-ups
| Rank | Industry | Median Survival Duration (days) | Dissolved in 1 Year (%) |
| 1 | Extraterritorial Organisations and Bodies | 1,556 | 1.87% |
| 2 | Professional, Scientific and Technical | 1,531 | 3.34% |
| 3 | Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation | 1,277.5 | 4.39% |
| 4 | Information and Communication | 1,253 | 4.17% |
| 5 | Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 1,169.5 | 4.40% |
| 6 | Manufacturing | 1,169 | 4.63% |
| 7 | Construction | 1,159 | 4.74% |
| 8 | Human Health and Social Work | 1,103 | 4.54% |
| 9 | Education | 1,101.5 | 5.60% |
| 10 | Financial and Insurance | 1,083 | 5.81% |
The research shows that start-up companies in the extraterritorial organisations and bodies sector (for example – international financial agencies, world customs organisations and national associations) are the most successful with an average survival rate of 1,556 days (approximately 4 years and 2 months), which is 473 days longer (approximately 1 year and 3 months) than businesses in the financial and insurance sector in tenth place.
Following closely are start-ups in the professional, scientific and technical sector existing for an average of 1,531 days (approximately 4 years and 1 month). Only 3.34% of the companies in this sector dissolve after one year. A success which could be considered unsurprising, judging by the fact that the technology industry alone is set to reach $5 trillion by the end of 2021.
The third sector with the longest lasting start-ups is water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation. Companies in this sector survive for 1,277.5 days (3 years and 5 months) on average and after 5 years only 37.69% dissolve, which is 4.67% less than companies in the extraterritorial organisations and bodies sector.
Ranking in fourth and fifth place respectively are start-up businesses in the information and communication sector (for example, telephone services) with a 1,253 days (approximately 3 years and 4 months) average survival rate, followed by the arts, entertainment and recreation sector in which start-ups exist for an average of 1,169.5 days (approximately 3 years and 2 months).
And the sector in which start-ups last the shortest amount of time is…
Surviving for an average of just 796 days (approximately 2 years and 1 month), start-up companies in the public administration and defence; compulsory social security sector dissolve the quickest, existing 760 days less (approximately 2 years) compared to businesses in the extraterritorial organisations and bodies sector.
Methodology
- Cashfloat sought to discover the industries across the UK with the longest lasting start-up companies.
- To begin with, a comprehensive sample of 3.2 million start-up businesses was acquired through the Companies House register. The attributes collected for each business included: company number, status, incorporation date, dissolution date, address and Standard Industry Classification code (SIC).
- The SIC codes, which served as industry classifiers, were mapped to section and division level classifications using a consolidated list of SIC codes sourced from Gov.uk, which allowed for industry section level comparisons to be made.
- In order to obtain accurate results, companies with no supplied industry classifications and those currently active were omitted from the research. Out of 3.2 million start-ups in total, data was collected and aggregated for 1.1 million start-up companies.
- The aggregation was made by industry, division and country. Median survival duration in days was calculated as the median difference between incorporation and dissolution dates. Dissolution year was also calculated in a binned range of 1-5+ years, along with their corresponding percentages relative to the total sample size per aggregation.
- Subsequently, all industries were ranked, based on the median survival duration and the dissolution time frame, in order to determine the industries in which start-up companies existed for the longest period of time.
- All data was collected between 10-12 November 2021 and is subject to change.
