Alpaca Takes On More Of The Brokerage Business

July 16, 2026 | NCFA Market Activity | Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence And Data, Digital Assets

Alpaca Takes On More Of The Brokerage Business

On July 16, 2026, Alpaca raised US$135 million in new equity led by Peak XV, with participation from Elefund, Opera Tech Ventures and Unbound.

The announced financing totals US$435 million, including debt financing primarily from Payward, the parent company of Kraken, and BMO. Alpaca didn’t disclose how that debt was structured or allocated between the lenders.

The financing reflects a larger change inside the company. Alpaca started by helping developers connect applications to U.S. brokerage accounts. It now clears more trades itself, holds securities in custody, operates regulated businesses in several markets and supports companies offering tokenized stocks.

That business needs more than product capital. Brokers need liquidity, regulatory capital and operations that can settle trades and protect customer assets during volatile markets.

Brokerage Growth Requires More Capital

A software company can add customers without holding their assets or settling their trades. A broker cannot.

Alpaca clears U.S. equities through the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. It has also secured memberships with the Options Clearing Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation and joined Nasdaq.

Those connections reduce its reliance on outside clearing brokers and give Alpaca more control over execution, settlement and the economics attached to each account. They also bring higher capital, liquidity and operating requirements.

The lenders fit that business. Payward brings Kraken’s digital asset market experience and an existing Nasdaq tokenization partnership. BMO brings a global banking and capital markets balance sheet and is already working with CME Group and Google Cloud on tokenized cash for margin and settlement.

Both are financing a broker that connects conventional securities with tokenized markets.

Alpaca Brings Clearing And Custody In House

Alpaca’s first pitch was simple.  A fintech could add investing without becoming a broker.

The company now supports stocks, ETFs, options, fixed income and crypto for more than 300 fintech and institutional partners across more than 40 countries. It reported more than 9 million brokerage accounts in January 2026.

Self clearing, custody, securities lending, cash products and wider market access let Alpaca handle more of each account relationship. That can improve product flexibility and give the company access to more of the revenue generated after an account opens.

Its international expansion follows the same pattern. The WealthKernel acquisition added regulated brokerage and custody businesses in the United Kingdom and Europe. Alpaca later completed passporting across the European Economic Area and began adding European equities. In India, it acquired an IFSCA regulated broker dealer and payment service provider in GIFT City.

Alpaca is buying regulated market access rather than trying to export one U.S. brokerage model everywhere.

That can simplify expansion for its partners. It also leaves Alpaca managing different legal entities, customer protections and operating requirements across jurisdictions.

The company says revenue has doubled annually for three consecutive years. Revenue, profitability and product level economics remain private.

Tokenized Stocks Still Need Brokers And Custodians

Alpaca says it now holds more than US$1.5 billion in assets backing tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs.

Alpaca doesn't issue those tokens. It holds the underlying securities while other companies create digital representations for their own platforms. The rights attached to each token depend on its issuer and legal structure.

Tokenized stocks therefore do not remove brokerage, custody or corporate actions. Someone still has to hold the shares, settle transactions and reconcile the token with the underlying asset.

That is Alpaca’s commercial role. Its Instant Tokenization Network connects custody with minting, redemption and liquidity across token issuers and trading venues.

The same model is entering regulated markets. Nasdaq’s tokenized stock proposal retains exchange trading and clearing while adding a tokenized representation.

Tokenization becomes a measurable business when firms can handle custody, settlement, reporting and corporate actions at scale. Issuing more tokens is the easy part.

AI Agents Are Reaching Brokerage APIs

Alpaca is also making brokerage functions easier for software to use directly. Its command line interface exposes 108 functions covering orders, accounts, positions, market data and crypto. The company also offers an MCP server and an AI agent skills library.

Brokerage APIs are not new. What is changing is how much of the workflow software can complete before a person intervenes.

A financial institution can allow software to retrieve account information, assess opportunities and prepare or submit orders. The institution still sets permissions, limits, approvals and exception rules. Responsibility for the trade remains with the firm and account owner.

Alpaca says monthly active API users nearly quadrupled during the six months before the financing. It hasn't disclosed the starting number or how much of that activity came from AI agents rather than conventional algorithmic trading.

The tools are available. Institutions will decide how much authority to give them.

Canadian Firms Are Already Using Parts Of The Model

Alpaca already supports a Canadian use case through Manzil’s embedded brokerage launch. Manzil owns the customer proposition while Alpaca provides U.S. brokerage accounts, custody, clearing and fractional share access. That arrangement lets a Canadian fintech build for a defined customer segment without becoming a U.S. broker dealer.

BMO’s financing participation adds an institutional connection. The bank is backing a company that holds securities behind tokenized equities and is taking on more clearing and custody work.

Payward adds another Canadian connection through Kraken. Kraken operates nationally through Payward Canada’s restricted dealer registration, while its parent company is also working with Nasdaq on tokenization.

Canada has broker dealers, custodians, wealth platforms and digital asset firms. Few combine developer brokerage APIs, self clearing, tokenized equity custody and regulated businesses across several markets.

Alpaca shows Canadian firms what a more integrated brokerage business can look like. The practical decision is which functions to own and which to source from a specialist.

Alpaca Expands Beyond Brokerage APIs

Alpaca started by helping developers connect to a broker. Today it is taking on more of the brokerage itself.

The company clears trades, holds securities, operates regulated businesses across several jurisdictions and supports tokenized stock platforms. Its AI tools extend those same functions to software.

The latest financing belongs in that progression. The Company Intelligence Snapshot below shows how Alpaca added those capabilities and where the new equity and debt fit.

Talking Point

How much of the brokerage business can Alpaca bring under one company before regulatory and operating complexity begins to offset the advantage?

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