29 January 2019 11:35, UTC

According to the research conducted by CB Insights, in 2018, venture capital-funded companies attracted a record $ 39.57 bln from investors all over the world. This is 120% more than in the previous year, Reuters reports.

The research claims that 1,707 deals were completed, compared with 1,480 in 2017. The increase in funding was mainly due to 52 rounds of mega-investments each worth more than $ 100 mln, totaling $24.88 bln. For example, investments in Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, amounted to $14 bln. In the last three months of 2018, five companies were included in the cherished ranks of "unicorns" — the enterprises whose value is estimated at more than $1 bln. These include Brex credit card provider, Monzo digital bank and Plaid data, aggregator.

The most significant jump in the number of deals in 2018 was performed in Asia, with an increase of 38% over the previous year, and the total investment amounted to a record $22.65 bln.

Venture groups are investing billions of dollars in fintech companies, striving to capture the market share, offering simpler and cheaper digital financial services over the legacy players. While the project funding reached a record high in 2018, CB Insights believes that this would likely lead to the postponing of the initial public offerings. “IPO activity is likely to remain lackluster in 2019,” the research reads.

Image courtesy of Pehub

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