A consortium of state-owned Chinese companies and private enterprises has created an investment fund for fintech mergers and acquisitions.

A consortium of Chinese state and private organisations, including China Fintech Holdings and China Huarong International, is pledging nearly $1.5 billion as part of an investment fund for fintech acquisitions.

Start-ups in the fields of big data, payments, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology and supply chain financing would be targeted by the fund, which would seek to assert China’s place in the global fintech market.

Credit China Fintech executive director, Sheng Jia, said that the consortium and joined forces on the fund with the intention of promoting the benefits of competition and the sharing of knowledge.

“Leveraging on the fund partners’ experiences and competitive advantages in brand recognition, industry resources and expertise, the fund aims to invest in innovative fintech enterprises with potential and help them to be the fintech leaders with our technical know-how and capital resources,” he said.

The investment in fintech ventures across China grew by $8.8 billion in the 12 months up to June 2016, with China also having taken the crown as the number one fintech destination ahead of London, Singapore and Silicon Valley in a DBS/Ernst & Young (EY) report last year.