Alpaca raises $52M Series C to take its API brokerage platform to new markets

Summary

For all the turmoil these days, the U.S. stock market remains extremely attractive to investors around the world, simply because of its sheer size and liquidity. But it’s still quite difficult for investors in other parts of the globe to trade stocks on U.S. exchanges. A San Mateo-based startup called Alpaca has quietly capitalized on that opportunity by offering an API to financial services firms that let them sell trading services to their consumer user bases. Today, Alpaca claims it serves more than 5 million brokerage accounts, and has more than 200 financial clients in 40 countries. To build on that traction, Alpaca said on Wednesday it has raised $52 million in a Series C funding round to expand into more foreign markets, including the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Investors in the round include new and returning backers like Derayah Financial, 850 Management, National Investments Company Kuwait, Unbound and Portage Ventures. The San Mateo-based startup just opened a new office in New York, and it plans to use the fresh cash to obtain more regulatory licenses in different regions, similar to those it already has in the U.S., Japan, and the Bahamas, its co-founder and CEO Yoshi Yokokawa told TechCrunch. “The [recent] fundraising for us is very important because this is really a catalyst to go global infrastructure, instead of the U.S.-only anchored company and platform,” Yokokawa said. Alpaca will also use the proceeds to develop new products, add non-U.S. products like European and Asian equities, and support 24/5 trading of U.S. stocks. The Series C brings the company’s total funding raised to $170 million. Founded by Yokokawa, a former investment banker in the U.S. and Japan, and Hitoshi Harada (CPO), Alpaca started off selling software that financial services firms and fintechs could use to plug into and power trading for investing groups. “We first needed to create a globally functioning infrastructure [in 2018] that would enable people outside the U.S. to...