Britain's South West cities are the best places to launch startups

The South West of England is the best area in the country to launch a new business. The East and South East of the UK also scored highly for startups that made it beyond five-years with Bristol and Brighton & Hove cited as the best cities to launch a venture.

This is according to a report by BusinessComparrison.com, a website for startups, that has used data from the Office for National Statistics.

Bristol came out on top of the list with 1,140 of its 2,570 2013 startups making it to five years - 44.36%. Brighton & Hove came close with 44.13% - 865 from 1,960. Leeds, Sheffield and Cardiff came in third, fourth, and fifth respectively with 42% success rates but it went back to the South with Bournemouth placing sixth.

According to the findings London startups were less successful, with only a 39.35% success rate leaving it outside of the top ten in 12th. Only 32,895 London startups made it to five years from 83,600. The only poor performer in the South was Plymouth which finished last in the league as the city with the lowest startup survival rate in the UK. The city had less than one in three (30.7%) new ventures lasting five years or more.

The southern regions of the UK dominated the tables with the South West notching a 45.59% success rate over five years. 11,690 startups making it beyond five years from the 25,640 that was launched in 2013. The East and South East came second and third with 44% success rates.

From a tech perspective, the UK's capital is said to be in good health with multiple reports of high investments and firms reaching unicorn status.

According to new data sourced by PitchBook on behalf of the Mayor of London, London's position as one of the world's biggest financial centres, as well as the quality of AI research emerging from UK universities, has it outpacing every other European country.