Increased numbers get the thumbs up to start up

According to a survey by FirstStage Capital, it passed eight per cent of business proposals between July and September, compared with only four per cent from April to June.

A shift in business models was also noted, with B2B plans up from 30 to 40 per cent, while B2C proposals dropped from 39 to 24 per cent.

David Tee, COO at online business incubator Dcfor.com, said an eight per cent success rate was quite high. Of the 600 business plans submitted to Dcfor.com in the past six months, two per cent received approval.

Tee welcomed the upward trend and said: "Increase is happening because of change in market conditions. Want-to-be entrepreneurs are no longer bothering to submit plans. The total number of business plans submitted has probably gone down, but that means the ones we do get come from serious entrepreneurs."

According to Julie Meyer, co-founder and marketing director of First Tuesday, up to 500 entrepreneurs apply to attend its monthly matchmaking events. Four or five of these eventually receive funding for their business models.

Meyer said this represents a ten to 15 per cent success rate on a pan-European basis, with about 50 per cent of these approvals in the UK.