How Many Companies Are Incorporated in the UK Every Day?
If you work in B2B sales, recruitment, accounting, insurance, or any industry that serves businesses, understanding the volume of new company formations in the UK is critical to your growth strategy. The numbers might surprise you.
That figure comes directly from Companies House, the UK government's official registrar of companies. At NewCo Data, we track every single incorporation in real time. On 25 February 2026, for example, we recorded 2,453 new company incorporations in a single day.
That translates to roughly 12,500 new companies per week, 50,000 per month, and over 600,000 per year.
What sectors are these new companies in?
Using SIC code classification, we can break down exactly which industries these new businesses operate in. Based on our data from 25 February 2026:
Retail consistently leads the pack, followed by real estate (including property investment vehicles and lettings agencies) and food and drink (restaurants, cafes, catering companies, and food delivery services).
What type of companies are being formed?
The overwhelming majority of new incorporations are private limited companies (Ltd), which accounted for over 96% of all formations in our dataset.
Why does this matter for your business?
Every one of those 2,500+ daily incorporations represents a new business that needs services. On day one, a newly incorporated company typically needs:
An accountant to handle their tax registration, annual accounts, and VAT. Business insurance including public liability, professional indemnity, and employers' liability. A business bank account to separate personal and company finances. A website to establish their online presence. Phone and broadband for their business operations.
If you provide any of these services, the question isn't whether new companies need you. It's whether you can reach them before your competitors do.
How to access new company incorporation data
Companies House provides a free REST API that allows anyone to search for and retrieve company data. However, there are practical limitations: the API requires technical knowledge, has rate limits, offers no built-in way to filter by sector, and the data requires processing to be useful for sales purposes.
This is exactly why we built NewCo Data. We pull every new incorporation from Companies House daily, classify each company by industry sector, enrich the data with director names and full registered addresses, and deliver filtered lead reports to your inbox before 9am.
Get new company leads delivered daily
2,500+ new UK companies, filtered by your sector. Director names, addresses, and Companies House links included.
Start Your 7-Day Free TrialHistorical trends
The UK has seen a steady increase in company formations over the past decade. The number of new incorporations has grown from approximately 500,000 per year in 2015 to over 600,000 in recent years, driven by remote work, the gig economy, lower barriers to entry in digital industries, and the continued attractiveness of the UK as a business destination.
Key takeaways
Over 2,500 new companies are incorporated in the UK every working day. Retail, real estate, and food services are the most common sectors. Private limited companies make up over 96% of all formations. Every new company is a potential customer for B2B service providers. The businesses that reach these companies first have a significant competitive advantage.
At NewCo Data, we make it simple. Fresh leads, filtered by sector, delivered every morning. Start your free trial today.