• Swindon & Wiltshire Economy
• Tuesday February 3 2026

Entrepreneurial drive sparks growing demand for start up finance in South West

Entrepreneurial drive has led to a six per cent increase in demand for start-up loans in the South West, according to the British Business Bank.

The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme provided more than 1,000 loans to start ups across the South West in 2025, up 6.34 per cent on the year before when there were 946.

And figures just released show that new businesses in the region borrowed a total of £13.89 million, a 12 per cent increase on the £12.4 million loaned in 2024.

There were five local authority areas in the South West where businesses received more than £1 million in total.

These were: Cornwall (£1.6m); Somerset (£1.3m); Wiltshire (£1.3m); Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (£1.2m) and City of Bristol (£1.1m).

Across the UK as a whole, December was a particularly strong month, with the volume of loans up 12 per cent in December 2025 compared to December 2024.

Nationally, 39 per cent of the Start Up Loans in 2025 went to female business founders, while 21 per cent went to ethnic minority groups and eight per cent went to young Gen Z entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 24.

All three groups traditionally struggle to access start up business financing.

The demand for Start Up Loans runs counter to some other findings around business confidence. The British Chamber of Commerce found in their latest survey that confidence among businesses has fallen, with only 46 per cent of responding firms expecting an increase in turnover (compared with 48 per cent in Q3), meaning it is at its lowest level in three years.

Meanwhile, the Lloyds November Business Barometer found that business confidence fell in November by eight points to 42 per cent.

Louise McCoy, managing director, Start Up Loans, British Business Bank said: “Despite a mixed picture when it comes to business confidence data, in our Start Up Loans drawdowns data we still see a picture of year-on-year demand for Start Up Loans growing across the South West.

“December and January is a period when many people have the time and motivation to explore setting up their own business and change direction. We have already seen that December 2025 delivered a much higher volume of loans than December 2024.

“With demand for small business finance from the Start Up Loans programme ticking up, we look forward to supporting more entrepreneurs in the South West throughout 2026.”