No one knows for sure what the post-coronavirus era holds. But businesses are doing their best to get ready, announcing a wave of mergers and takeover bids designed to prepare them for what’s next.

Global mergers and acquisitions worth $1.3 trillion were announced during the first three months of the year, according to data from Refinitiv. That’s a 94% increase compared to one year ago, and the strongest opening period since records began in 1980.

It’s the third quarter in a row that dealmaking has come in above $1 trillion.

The tech sector has been particularly hot. During the first quarter, it registered $274 billion in deals, more than triple 2020 levels.

Then there were mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies, or the buzzy “blank check” firms that raise money from investors and then hunt for a takeover target. According to Refinitiv, SPACs played a major role in the quarter’s powerhouse performance, with 110 combinations worth $232 billion announced.

The boom is great news for investment banks, whose employees have had to pull long hours to organize and execute the deals. Refinitiv estimates that global investment banking fees topped $39 billion during the first quarter, the strongest period on records dating back to 2000.

Microsoft pays premium price – $16B – for speech recognition firm Nuance

JPMorgan Chase is at the top of Refinitiv’s league table, followed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. All three banks report earnings this week.

The second quarter is already shaping up to be incredibly strong, too.

On Monday, Microsoft announced that it was buying artificial intelligence developer Nuance in a deal worth $16 billion, excluding debt. It’s Microsoft’s second-largest acquisition ever, behind only its $26 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.

The move is expected to help solidify Microsoft’s growing influence in the health care industry. Nuance’s technology helps medical professionals with patient intake, documentation and telehealth — big growth areas for the sector, particularly during a pandemic.

SPAC mergers will continue to play a major role. On Tuesday, Grab said it will merge with a US-based SPAC backed by Altimeter Capital in a deal that would value Southeast Asia’s premier ride-hailing and food delivery service at nearly $40 billion.

The Grab merger is the biggest blank-check deal ever, according to Dealogic.

“The US listing is important because it gives us access to the widest global base of liquidity,” Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling told CNN Business.