And with one in every five startup businesses failing, experts at Cashfloat were eager to find out which industries across the UK have the most successful startup companies. 

Cashfloat analysed the survival duration of more than three million new businesses in various industries to discover which existed the longest, looking at incorporation date and dissolution date.

Key Findings:

• Startup companies in the water industry last the longest, having an average survival rate of 2,718 days.
• With startup businesses surviving for an average of 2,315 days, second place goes to the gambling industry.
• The job sector in which startups dissolve the quickest, after only 905 days, is the food industry.

Top 10 industries with the longest lasting startups

1. Water

2. Gambling

3. Research

4. Broadcasting

5. Business and financial services

6. Pulp and paper

7. Transport

8. Cultural

9. Electronics

10. Telecommunications

The research shows that startup companies in the water industry, which includes water engineering as well as water and wastewater plant construction, are the most successful with an average survival rate of 2,718 days (approximately seven years and four months), which is 1,375 days longer (approximately three years and seven months) than businesses in the telecommunications industry in tenth place.

Following closely are startups in the gambling industry existing for an average of 2,315 days (approximately six years and three months).

The third industry with the longest lasting startups is research. Companies in this sector survive for 2,061 days (five years and six months) on average.

Ranking in fourth and fifth place respectively are start-up businesses in the broadcasting industry with a 1,735 days (approximately four years and seven months) average survival rate, followed by the business and financial services industry in which startups exist for an average of 1,558 days (approximately four years and two months).

And the industry in which startups last the shortest amount of time is:

Surviving for an average of just 905 days (approximately two years and four months), startups in the food industry dissolve the quickest, existing 1,813 days less (approximately four years and nine months) compared to businesses in the water industry in first position.

Please find the complete data sheet here.