Alpaca Hits $1.15B Valuation to Build the 'Stripe for Stocks'

SAN MATEO, CA – January 14, 2026 – Alpaca, a company providing the foundational plumbing for modern investment applications, today announced it has raised $150 million in a Series D funding round, catapulting its valuation to $1.15 billion. The investment, which cements Alpaca's status as a fintech unicorn, was led by Drive Capital, whose Co-Founder and Partner, Chris Olsen, will join the company's Board of Directors.

In a move to further fortify its financial standing, the company also secured a $40 million line of credit. The fresh capital injection is earmarked for an ambitious global expansion and a significant enhancement of its product suite, which serves as the backend for hundreds of financial apps and institutions worldwide, from crypto exchange Kraken to established players like SBI Securities.

“Our mission is to open financial services to everyone on the planet,” said Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder and CEO of Alpaca. “We’re proud to contribute to Saudi Vision 2030 by building the global standard for brokerage infrastructure, including infrastructure that enables Shariah-compliant investing, empowering partners to build financial services that align with Islamic law. This raise gives us the fuel we need to continue delivering infrastructure that serves our global enterprise partners and active traders.”

The 'Stripe for Stocks' Cements Its Role

The substantial valuation arrives in a discerning market where investors are shifting focus from speculative growth to proven, foundational technologies. While overall fintech funding has seen a strategic contraction, capital is increasingly flowing into mega-rounds for established companies with clear paths to profitability and strong market positioning. Alpaca’s successful raise, which the company noted was “very oversubscribed,” underscores investor confidence in its infrastructure-as-a-service model.

Industry analysts have observed a flight to quality, with investors prioritizing capital-light, recurring-revenue businesses that form the essential architecture of the digital economy. Chris Olsen of Drive Capital echoed this sentiment, drawing a direct parallel to other transformative infrastructure players. “Just as Stripe and Plaid rewired payments and financial data pipes, Alpaca is redefining how global investing infrastructure works,” Olsen stated. “They’re building the foundational layer that modern financial institutions will depend on for the next decade.”

Alpaca provides a suite of APIs that allows other companies—from burgeoning fintech startups to legacy financial institutions—to embed trading and investment capabilities directly into their own products. This model allows partners to offer U.S. stocks, ETFs, options, and fixed-income products without undertaking the immense cost and complexity of building and regulating their own brokerage from the ground up. The company’s growth reflects this demand, with revenue more than doubling year-over-year as it now powers services for over 300 organizations across more than 40 countries.

A Strategic Coalition of Global Investors

The list of participants in the Series D round reads like a who's who of global finance and technology, signaling broad-based validation of Alpaca’s strategy. The syndicate includes market-making giant Citadel Securities, crypto exchange Kraken, and the venture arms of financial titans like BNP Paribas (Opera Tech Ventures) and MUFG Innovation Partners.

The involvement of such diverse players highlights Alpaca’s unique position at the nexus of several major industry trends. The investment from Citadel Securities suggests a strategic interest from the core of Wall Street in the next generation of trading infrastructure. Meanwhile, Kraken’s participation points to the increasing convergence of traditional finance and the digital asset ecosystem. Alpaca has become a key enabler in this space, with recent reports indicating its infrastructure powers 94% of all tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs, providing a regulated bridge between on-chain and off-chain worlds.

Furthermore, investments from international players like Bank Muscat in the Middle East and Japan's MUFG signal Alpaca’s global appeal and its ability to cater to local market needs. This coalition of backers provides not only capital but also strategic partnerships that can accelerate Alpaca’s entry into new markets and product verticals, solidifying its role as a neutral, essential utility for the global financial industry.

Fueling Global Ambitions and Inclusive Finance

Alpaca intends to deploy the new funds to aggressively pursue its mission of global financial access. A key part of this strategy involves securing regulatory licenses in key international jurisdictions, allowing it to establish a local presence and offer tailored services. This includes a notable focus on inclusive finance, exemplified by its development of Shariah-compliant investing solutions.

By providing infrastructure that enables partners to offer savings accounts, options, and other products that adhere to Islamic law, Alpaca is tapping into a vast and underserved market while aligning with its goal of making financial services universally accessible. This focus is already bearing fruit through partnerships like the one with Sarwa, a leading investment platform in the Middle East.

“Alpaca's infrastructure has been a core pillar to Sarwa's expansion since 2021,” said Mark Chahwan, Co-Founder and Group CEO at Sarwa. “Our partnership allowed us to connect global markets and MENA investors. By integrating with their APIs, we've become a comprehensive investment powerhouse... We're proud to grow with a partner who shares our obsession with transparency and innovation.”

An Expanding Arsenal of Institutional-Grade Tools

The confidence from investors is built on a foundation of rapid execution and product expansion. The past year was a breakout period for Alpaca, during which it significantly broadened its capabilities to serve more sophisticated institutional clients. The company rolled out multi-leg options trading, fully paid securities lending, access to fixed-income products, and 24/5 trading for U.S. stocks, catering to global users in different time zones.

Beyond asset classes, Alpaca strengthened its core infrastructure by securing memberships with the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC), and became a Nasdaq Exchange Member. These regulatory and clearing milestones are critical for building trust and ensuring the platform's resilience, particularly as it onboards larger institutional partners.

With a fortified balance sheet and a powerful network of strategic backers, Alpaca is positioned not just to facilitate market access, but to actively shape the future of how investment products are built and distributed on a global scale. The company's continued investment in technology, compliance, and global reach demonstrates a clear path toward becoming the indispensable operating system for the next generation of financial services.