New businesses about to validate (7)
I believe the answer is:
confirm
'validate' is the definition.
(I know that validate is a more specific form of the action confirm)
'new businesses about' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'new' could be 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament) and 'n' is found in the answer.
'about' could be 'of' and 'of' is located in the leftover letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for confirm that I've seen before include "Authenticate" , "Ratify; establish" , "Provide support for the truth" , "Substantiate" , "Make (provisional arrangement) definite" .)