Most people read economic forecasts. Smart people read company formation data instead.
Forecasts are opinions dressed in spreadsheets. Formation data is what people are actually betting their money on. There’s a difference.
Right now, the numbers show something interesting happening in UK tech-adjacent services — specifically the cluster of SaaS, AI consultancy, and data services companies incorporated in the last 18 months. Formation rates in these sub-sectors have outpaced even the post-pandemic e-commerce wave. That’s not hype. That’s thousands of founders putting personal guarantees on the line.
Meanwhile, traditional professional services — your mid-tier accountancies, your generalist consultancies — are seeing net formation slow noticeably. New entrants still appear, but the pace has dropped. Make of that what you will.
What’s genuinely surprising is the renewable energy services category. Not the big infrastructure players. The smaller operations — installation, maintenance, advisory. Formations here have quietly climbed for three consecutive years, largely unnoticed because the headline narrative stays fixed on whatever is happening in tech.
The pattern matters for different reasons depending on who you are. Sales teams use it to spot emerging verticals before they’re crowded. Investors use it to validate theses or kill bad ones early. Competitors use it to see who just incorporated three doors down.
The data exists. All of it. Five million-plus UK companies, with formation dates, SIC codes, growth trajectories, and regional breakdowns. The question is whether you’re reading it or guessing.
Stop guessing. Explore the formation trends yourself at https://borsch.ai
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