Kansas set a new record for business formations last year, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said.

The number of new domestic business entities formed in 2015 was 17,298—about 1,500 higher than the previous record set in 2014. To top it off, there was not a proportionate increase in dissolutions of business in Kansas last year.

The total number of businesses in existence in Kansas at the end of 2015 came to 179,665—more than 9,000 more than in 2014. According to the state of Kansas, this is the eighth year in a row the number of business entities in existence increased.

“This is truly an extraordinary number of new businesses for our state,” Kobach said. “The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Kansas.”