Financial technology companies have raised $39.57 billion from investors in 2018, up 120 percent from the previous year, according to a research report from CB Insights.
The number of deals for investing in financial technology companies increased to 1,707 in 2018 from 1,480 in 2017.
The surge in funding was due to 52 mega-rounds or investments larger than $100 million, which were worth $24.88 billion combined.
A $14 billion investment in Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, accounted for 35 percent of total fintech funding alone last year.
Credit card provider Brex, digital bank Monzo and data aggregator Plaid have been valued at more than $1 billion.
Venture capital investors have been pouring billions of dollars into fintech companies, in the hopes that they can gain market share from incumbent financial institutions by offering easier to use and cheaper digital financial services.
Asia saw the biggest jump in number of deals in 2018, growing 38 percent from the previous year and accounting for a record $22.65 billion.
United States-based financial tech companies raised $11.89 billion through 659 investments. The number of deals in financial tech segment dropped in Europe, but funding reached a record $3.53 billion.
