Fewer but larger venture capital deals in 2018 translated into some big payoffs for fintechs.

Fintech-related funding jumped 38% to nearly $11 billion in 2018, according to the 4Q18 MoneyTree Report from PwC and CB Insights. Deal activity in the space rose to 627 transactions, up from 571 in 2017.

Seed-stage fintech companies accounted for 25% of all deals in the space in 4Q18, up from 22% the previous quarter, but down significantly from 35% in 1Q18.

Venture capital funding across all sectors in the U.S. jumped to $99.5 billion in 2018, the highest yearly funding total since 2000. However, the 5,536 transactions marked the lowest level of deal activity since 2013.

According to the report, the largest fintech deals in the U.S. in the final quarter of 2018 included crypto exchange and wallet provider Coinbase’s $300 million funding round led by Tiger Global Management; platform startup Plaid’s $250 funding round led by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins; and mobile pay app Earnin’s $125 million funding round from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global and others. Andreessen Horowitz played a role in all three fundings.

It’s worth noting mobile banking startup N26 announced this week it raised $300 million in a round of funding led by New York-based Insight Venture Partners. The latest influx of money gave the company a valuation of $2.7 billion, eclipsing Revolut’s $1.7 billion valuation, and claiming the title as Europe’s most valuable digital bank.

Insight was also behind the $60 million funding round announced this week for TaxJar, a fast-growing sales tax automation company for ecommerce businesses and developers.

In a release, TaxJar said the funding would allow the company to continue to “aggressively hire” and expand its 100% remote team of nearly 60 while accelerating product development, research and go-to-market for a new sales tax management tool, TaxJar Plus.

TaxJar and Insight did not respond to requests for comments as of press time.

Competition heating up?

Despite three years of growth in terms of transactions and money spent in the fintech space, VCs may soon face more competition among young firms from an unexpected source — banks.

A digital banking report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, written on behalf of Swiss banking software firm Temenos and released this week, found 56% of North American bankers responding to its survey said their bank’s innovation strategy includes investing in fintech startups, which was the top response. But will banks put their money where their mouth is in 2019?

Though not based in North America, MUFG Bank announced today it has launched a roughly $185 million venture capital unit targeting fintech startups in the U.S., as well as in Southeast Asia and Japan.

MUFG said the financial services industry is being “transformed” by fintechs that have scaled up rapidly and raised massive amounts of capital from financial and non-financial institutions.

“While the MUFG Group entities have previously made separate strategic investments in fintech related startups, a larger, collaborative and more sophisticated framework for strategic investments is needed by MUFG in order to adapt itself to rapid marketplace changes and enhance open innovation,” the bank said in a release.

The bank said it has hired venture capitalists and other professionals with “wide experiences” of working with and investing in Japanese and global startups “to establish a high capability of global open innovation.”

Alexa von Tobel, founder of the personal finance company LearnVest, now a unit of Northwestern Mutual, also filed paperwork to raise a $200 million round this week.