Alpaca

Alpaca was founded in 2015 by Yoshi Yokokawa and Hitoshi Harada as a market-data and machine-learning venture before pivoting to developer-first brokerage infrastructure.

In 2018 Alpaca Securities became a FINRA/SEC-registered broker-dealer and shipped its commission-free trading API, establishing a developer-centric brokerage model.

Alpaca Crypto registered as a FinCEN MSB and launched crypto trading in 2022; it gained DTCC clearing status in 2023 and completed the shift from introducing broker to fully self-clearing in 2024.

In April 2025 Alpaca raised a $52M Series C, acquired Wealthkernel to expand in Europe, became an OCC/FICC member and joined Nasdaq, and launched an instant tokenization network plus FDIC-swept high-yield cash (up to $2.5M).

In January 2026 Alpaca closed a $150M Series D at a $1.15B valuation with total funding over $320M, led by Drive Capital with Citadel Securities, MUFG and Kraken among backers.

Alpaca closed a $150 million Series D in January 2026 at a $1.15 billion valuation. On July 16 it raised a further $135 million led by Peak XV, with Elefund, BNP Paribas' Opera Tech Ventures and Unbound participating, bringing total financing including debt to $435 million. The company says revenue has doubled for three straight years, that underlying shares backing tokenized equities exceed $1.5 billion, and that monthly active API users grew nearly fourfold in six months.

Operationally, Alpaca obtained an IFSCA-regulated broker-dealer and payment licence in GIFT City, India, acquired UK and European regulated entities and passported into all 30 EEA countries, and launched global equities starting with European stocks. It also shipped a Trading MCP Server and Trading CLI so AI agents can place orders in natural language. In April it launched the Instant Tokenization Network for instant in-kind minting and redemption of tokenized equities, while its Broker API added high-yield cash, multi-leg options, 24/5 trading and securities lending.

Alpaca's moat is not the number of licences but self-clearing membership: as a self-clearing member of DTCC, FICC and OCC it can wire instant mint-and-redeem for tokenized equities and 24/7 API access straight into US clearing, and the USD 135 million round plus debt takes total financing to USD 435 million. Underlying stock backing tokenized equities has passed USD 1.5 billion and revenue has doubled for three straight years, evidence that selling infrastructure scales better than running a retail brokerage. The Broadridge partnership extends proxy voting and shareholder communications to tokenized US equity holders, a precondition for institutions to put stocks onchain, while a near fourfold rise in API users from AI agents decides whether brokers or agent platforms hold pricing power.

Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder and CEO, graduated from Keio University, joined Lehman Brothers' securitization team in 2004, moved into proprietary trading after Lehman's collapse and co-founded several software companies, and founded Alpaca in 2015; he is an Endeavor Entrepreneur and the company's main public voice. Hitoshi Harada, Co-Founder (CPO), began his career in 2002 building data infrastructure for Japan's largest online travel platform, was lead architect at Greenplum, authored PostgreSQL's window functions and sets the technical direction. Nadia Asoyan, CFO, holds a BS in business from UC Berkeley's Haas School, started at EY, helped build Square's accounting function, was Robinhood's first finance hire, served as CFO of Strike and joined in 2025. Tarun Ajwani, CRO, leads global institutional and broker channels. Rohit Mulani, President of Southeast Asia, was founder and CEO of Gotrade and now builds the regional team, with management spanning Japan, the US and Southeast Asia.

Alpaca charges volume-tiered Maker and Taker fees on crypto spot trading by 30-day volume; Tier 1 (USD 0-100,000) is 0.15% Maker and 0.25% Taker.

Alpaca sets the top tier (above USD 100,000,000) at a 0.00% Maker fee and a 0.10% Taker fee.

Alpaca Securities LLC is a self-clearing broker-dealer registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the licensed clearing rail behind most tokenised US stocks; Alpaca Europe holds UK Financial Conduct Authority authorisation and an EEA-passported Spanish markets licence.