Transparency data

OECD-defined High Growth Enterprises in the UK

Updated 1 February 2024

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

High Growth Enterprises (HGEs) are defined by the OECD as:

… enterprises with average annualised growth greater than 20% per annum, over a three year period …. measured by the number of employees or by turnover. A meaningful size threshold should be set … A provisional size threshold has been suggested as 10 employees at the beginning of the growth period.

This data release, which highlights the gender and regional disparities in entrepreneurship across the UK, was presented by the Women-Led High Growth Taskforce in Downing Street, and will inform their work.

Table 1: Number and percentage of companies split by the gender split of the founders for OECD defined HGEs in the UK

Gender of founders Number of companies Percentage of companies
All female         88                  5.5%                   
Majority female    9                   0.6%                   
Equal split        123                 7.7%                   
Majority male       38                  2.4%                   
All male           1,337               83.8%                  
Total              1,595               100%                  

Note: Companies are only included where their gender balance is known.
Source: Beauhurst data extracted on 6 March 2023.

Table 2: Number and percentage of companies split by the gender split of the founders for OECD defined HGEs across the UK

Region                           All female   Majority female Equal split  Majority male All male        Total         
Scotland
145                
12
14.6%
0
0%       
9
11%   
1
1.2%   
60
73.2%   
82
100%   
Northern Ireland
48         
1
3.6%  
0
0%       
4
14.3% 
0
0%     
23
82.1%   
28
100%   
Wales
84                    
4
8.7%  
0
0%       
9
19.6% 
2
4.3%   
31
67.4%   
46
100%   
North East
77               
0
0%    
0
0%       
4
8.9%  
1
2.2%   
40
88.9%   
45
100%   
North West
251              
8
6.3%  
0
0%       
6
4.7%  
2
1.6%   
111
87.4%  
127
100%  
Yorkshire and the Humber
187
4
4.2%  
1
1.1%     
5
5.3%  
1
1.1%   
84
88.4%   
95
100%   
East Midlands
132           
3
5.8%  
0
0%       
3
5.8%  
0
0%     
46
88.5%   
52
100%   
West Midlands
154           
6
8.7%  
0
0%       
3
4.3%  
1
1.4%   
59
85.5%   
69
100%   
East of England
224         
6
5.3%  
0
0%       
9
8.0%  
1
0.9%   
97
85.8%   
113
100%  
London
820                  
28
4.4% 
5
0.8%     
43
6.7% 
21
3.3%  
543
84.8%  
640
100%  
South East
349              
13
6.6% 
3
1.5%     
17
8.6% 
5
2.5%   
159
80.7%  
197
100%  
South West
180              
3
3.0%  
0
0%       
11
10.9%
3
3.0%   
84
83.2%   
101
100%  
Total 2,652                      88
5.5% 
9
0.6%     
123
7.7%
38
2.4%  
1,337
83.8%
1,595
100%

Note: Companies are only included where their gender balance is known. Total figures are shown under the regions for completeness.
Source: Beauhurst data extracted on 6 March 2023.

Table 3: Average and total funding, employees and turnover of companies split by the gender split of the founders for OECD defined HGEs across the UK

OECD defined HGEs with at least one female founder[1] OECD defined HGEs with at least one male founder[1] OECD defined HGEs                 
Total number
(Number reporting full financials last year[2]) 
252
(107)                                     
1,518
(902)                                 
2,651
(1,594)                 
Average per funding received [3]
(Total)                       
5.78 million
(£2.94 billion)                  
9.55 million
(£35.0 billion)                
9.17 million
(£39.7 billion)  
Average employees
(Total)                                  
186
(around 46,895)                           
233
(around 355,078)                        
240
(around 638,544)          
Average turnover
(Total)                                   
£125 million
(£13.3 billion)                   
£93.7 million
(£84.4 billion)               
£81.0 million
(£129.0 billion)

Notes: [1] Companies are only included where their gender balance is known.  Total figures are shown for completeness.
[2] Company details reflect those that reported full financials in the last period.
[3] Data underlying is comprehensive for announced and unannounced equity fundraisings from 1st January 2011 to present.
Source: Beauhurst data extracted on 6 March 2023.

Appendix: Notes about the data

Source

The data used in this report is extracted from Beauhurst’s data platform.  Their data is collected from Companies House, business websites, and through data partnerships with granting bodies, investors, advisors, and universities. The information while collected, in part, by algorithm is verified manually to ensure its accuracy. Where data cannot be verified it is not included in the platform.

Extraction

The data was extracted from the Beauhurst data platform on 6 March 2023 as part of the subscription held by the Cabinet Office with that company.

Data was extracted based on a set of queries that:

(1) replicated the OECD’s definition of high growth enterprises where stated.

All enterprises with average annualised growth greater than 20% per annum, over a three year period should be considered as high-growth enterprises. Growth can be measured by the number of employees or by turnover. A meaningful size threshold  should be set to avoid the growth of small enterprises distorting the picture …. A provisional size threshold has been suggested as 10 employees at the beginning of the growth period.

Eurostat-OECD “Manual on Business Demography Statistics” (2007)

(2) added to that definition, as needed, to refine searches to specific locations or founders (based on their gender), or the reasons that Beauhurst tracked the data including, but not limited to, that they had received equity investment, graduated from a selected accelerator, spun out from an academic institution or reached scale up status.

The data has not been analysed further by the Cabinet Office, all figures represented are those extracted on 6 March 2023.

Limitations

Where data cannot be verified by Beauhurst using a manual process it has not been included in their platform and, as a result, treated as missing data.  Numbers included reflect data verified by Beauhurst only and no additional weighting has been applied following its extraction.