Venture capital-backed financial technology companies raised a record USD 39.57 billion from investors globally in 2018, up 120 percent from the previous year.

Referring to the research by data provider CB Insights, Reuters reports that funding was raised through 1707 deals, up from 1480 in 2017.

According to the research, the surge in funding was due in large part to 52 mega-rounds, or investments larger than USD100 million, which were worth USD24.88 billion combined.

A USD14 billion investment in Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, accounted for 35 percent of total fintech funding alone last year.

In the last three months of the year, five companies joined the coveted ranks of fintech “unicorns”, or companies valued at more than USD1 billion. These include credit card provider Brex, digital bank Monzo and data aggregator Plaid.

“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,” the reseasrch reads.

Fintechs have emerged globally across all sectors of finance, including lending, banking and wealth management.

Asia saw the biggest jump in number of deals in 2018, growing 38 percent from the previous year and accounting for a record USD22.65 billion.

In the United States, fintechs raised a record USD11.89 billion through 659 investments, while the number of deals dropped in Europe, but funding reached a record USD3.53 billion.

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