Alpaca Secures Unicorn Status with USD 1.15bn Valuation Following USD 150m Series D
Japanese-founded and US-headquartered Alpaca, a provider of API-first stock and crypto brokerage infrastructure, has raised $150 million in a Series D funding round, propelling the company’s valuation to $1.15 billion.
The round was led by Drive Capital, with participation from major institutional players including Citadel Securities, Kraken, and the venture arms of BNP Paribas (Opera Tech Ventures) and MUFG. As part of the transaction, Drive Capital Co-Founder Chris Olsen will join Alpaca’s Board of Directors. In addition to the equity financing, the company secured a $40 million line of credit to bolster its balance sheet.
This capital injection brings Alpaca’s total funding to over $320 million and underscores the growing demand for "embedded finance"—technology that allows non-financial companies and fintechs to offer trading services directly to their users. Alpaca currently powers brokerage accounts for over 300 partners in 40 countries, including Kraken, SBI Securities, and Dime!, supporting more than 9 million end-user accounts.
Bridging TradFi and DeFi
The diverse composition of the investor group—ranging from traditional banking giants like MUFG to crypto-native firms like Kraken—highlights Alpaca’s strategic positioning at the intersection of traditional finance and blockchain technology.
“We are building the global standard for brokerage infrastructure,” said Yoshi Yokokawa, Alpaca’s Co-Founder and CEO. The company stated that the fresh capital will be deployed to secure regulatory licenses in key global jurisdictions and expand its institutional-grade trading capabilities.
This follows what the company described as a "breakout" 2025, during which it doubled its year-over-year revenue. Recent product expansions have included multi-leg options, fixed-income trading, and a 24/5 operating schedule for U.S. equities. Notably, the firm claims to power 94% of all tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs, having recently launched an Instant Tokenization Network to facilitate the convergence of fiat and on-chain financial rails.
Hitoshi Harada, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Alpaca, will discuss the platform unicorn's journey and offering at the next Tokyo FinTech Meetup. Request an invite.
Operational Scaling
“Just as Stripe and Plaid rewired payments and financial data pipes, Alpaca is redefining how global investing infrastructure works,” said incoming board member Chris Olsen.
The company plans to use the Series D funds to further develop its self-clearing custody capabilities and support sophisticated financial institutions. The round also saw participation from Flat Capital (led by Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski), DRW Venture Capital, and returning investors such as Portage and Horizons Ventures.
Norbert Gehrke
