The number of crowdfunding investors hit a record high in September, according to the latest report from a Web portal that tracks the peer-to-peer lending industry.

Nearly 3.75 million Chinese chose to invest via crowdfunding last month, a 38.54 percent increase from August, said the report from Wangdaizhijia. During the same period, the expected amount of investment in new projects also surged 27.83 percent to 2.88 billion yuan ($454million).

New business ventures have been given a significant boost by crowdfunding, which gathers small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals, typically via the Internet.