“Astrophysicists at Western University have found evidence for the direct formation of black holes that do not need to emerge from a star remnant. The production of black holes in the early universe, formed in this manner, may provide scientists with an explanation for the presence of extremely massive black holes at a very early stage in the history of our universe.”

The original research:

The Mass Function of Supermassive Black Holes in the Direct-collapse Scenario
Shantanu Basu and Arpan Das
Published 2019 June 28, 2019. 
The American Astronomical Society. 
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 879, Number 1

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab2646

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.05138.pdf

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-06-decipher-history-supermassive-black-holes.html