Report: Florida sees record number of new business filings

The number of new businesses formed in Florida is rising and hit a record high for the first nine months of the year, according to a report from FiledToday.com, a Punta Gorda company that tracks new business filings with the Florida Division of Corporations.

According to the firm, 474,039 new Florida-based businesses registered with the state from January through September — the most for those months on record and up 5.8% over the same period in 2025.

The number of businesses registered with the state in the first nine months of this year was also 4.4% above the 2021 boom, when there were 453,978 filings during that Covid-era period. 

Charlotte County is one of the counties seeing the fastest growth in the state in 2026, with new business filings up more than 16% over past year.

A surge in new filings does not necessarily equate to long-term staying power, according to the report. Of the Florida-based companies formed in 2023, the report says, 47% remain active. Of those formed in 2025, about 65% remain active, meaning about one in three is inactive already.

The report also notes a trend in business names. Companies that include "AI" in the names have been on the rise in Florida, increasing from 558 between January through September 2025 to 874 during that same timeframe in 2026, the report says; that's a 56.6% increase. Businesses with the word "peptide" in the names have also been increasing, from 41 in the first nine months of 2025 to 178 during that period in 2026. That's more than a 334.1% uptick.