Alpaca Hits Unicorn Status with $150M Round to Scale Brokerage APIs Globally
- ByStartupStory | January 15, 2026
Alpaca, the API-first brokerage platform founded by Japanese entrepreneurs Yoshi Yokokawa and Hitoshi Harada, has raised $150 million in a blockbuster funding round valuing the company at over $1 billion, accelerating its mission to power commission-free trading worldwide through developer-friendly financial infrastructure.
The Tokyo-headquartered fintech enables startups, trading algorithms, and retail apps to embed stock, options, and crypto trading with just three lines of code – bypassing the compliance nightmares and engineering overhead plaguing traditional broker-dealer partnerships. From robo-advisors to social trading platforms, Alpaca’s APIs handle KYC, clearing, and settlement while delivering real-time market data across 20,000+ U.S. equities.
The capital fuels aggressive international expansion beyond U.S. markets into Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia, where fragmented retail brokerage creates massive API opportunities. Alpaca plans to double its engineering team and launch margin trading, futures, and 24/7 crypto alongside localized compliance for GDPR, MiFID II, and JFSA regulations.
Japanese founders bring Silicon Valley execution to Tokyo’s capital markets. Their platform already powers 5 million+ retail accounts through embedded integrations, proving developers build faster than incumbals consolidate. Alpaca turns brokerage from cost center to growth engine – one API call powering tomorrow’s trillion-dollar trading revolution.
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