Alpaca Raises $150M at $1.15B Valuation as Brokerage APIs Go Global
Alpaca has secured $150 million in new funding at a valuation of $1.15 billion, marking a significant milestone for the developer-first brokerage platform and making it the first Japanese-founded startup to reach unicorn status in the United States. The round underscores growing investor confidence in API-driven financial infrastructure as the foundation for global investing. Rather than building consumer-facing trading apps, Alpaca has focused on providing end-to-end brokerage capabilities through modern APIs that allow other businesses to launch regulated trading products quickly and at scale. The valuation reflects the belief that brokerage infrastructure is becoming a critical layer in the financial technology stack, particularly as embedded finance continues to expand across regions and industries.
Founded with a focus on developers and institutions, it offers a full suite of brokerage services that includes stock, ETF, options, and crypto trading alongside real-time market data and compliance-ready infrastructure. Its platform enables fintech companies, banks, and financial institutions to offer investment products without having to build complex brokerage systems internally. This approach has attracted hundreds of businesses globally that rely on Alpaca’s APIs to power trading, custody, and post-trade operations. By abstracting away regulatory and operational complexity, Alpaca allows partners to focus on user experience, distribution, and local market needs while relying on a shared infrastructure layer.
The funding milestone also carries symbolic importance beyond capital raised. Alpaca’s emergence as the first Japanese-founded unicorn in the U.S. highlights the increasingly global nature of fintech innovation and the ability of companies founded outside Silicon Valley to build category-defining infrastructure. It reflects a broader shift in how financial platforms are created, where talent, capital, and customers span borders from day one. Alpaca’s trajectory suggests that global fintech founders can compete at the highest levels by focusing on foundational infrastructure rather than localized consumer products.
How Alpaca’s APIs Are Powering Global Market Access ?
Alpaca’s role as a global brokerage infrastructure provider is reinforced by active deployments across international markets. One recent example is PT Valbury Asia Futures, a well-established Indonesian brokerage that has launched U.S. stock trading for local investors using Alpaca’s platform. This partnership expands access to U.S. equities in Southeast Asia and demonstrates how it’s APIs are being used to connect regional financial institutions with global markets. Instead of navigating the complexity of cross-border brokerage operations independently, partners can leverage Alpaca’s infrastructure to offer compliant access to international assets while maintaining their own customer relationships.
The broader significance of Alpaca’s growth lies in how capital markets infrastructure is evolving. Traditional brokerage systems were built for vertically integrated institutions with large internal teams and long development cycles. API-first platforms like Alpaca are changing that dynamic by enabling modular, programmable finance. This shift mirrors what occurred in payments and cloud computing, where infrastructure providers became invisible yet indispensable layers powering thousands of businesses. As investing becomes embedded into a wider range of applications, from digital banks to wealth platforms, brokerage infrastructure is increasingly expected to operate as a service rather than a destination.
Looking ahead, Alpaca’s challenge will be to continue expanding its global footprint while maintaining regulatory depth and operational reliability across markets. Competition in financial infrastructure is intensifying as both startups and incumbents recognize the strategic value of APIs. Still, Alpaca’s combination of developer adoption, international deployments, and institutional-grade capabilities positions it as a key enabler of global investing access. The latest funding round and unicorn status signal that API brokerage infrastructure is no longer a niche category but a central component of how modern financial services are being built and distributed worldwide.
Alpaca’s milestone reflects a decisive shift in how financial markets are accessed and built. Brokerage infrastructure is moving away from closed, institution-only systems toward programmable platforms that enable global participation. The company’s rise also highlights the growing influence of globally founded startups shaping U.S. financial markets. If API-first brokerage continues to gain adoption, platforms like Alpaca could become as essential to investing as payment APIs are to commerce today.