AlpacaDB

AlpacaDB Inc., commonly referred to as Alpaca, is an American financial technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley. It provides application programming interfaces and supporting infrastructure that enable financial institutions, investment platforms, developers, and individual traders to build brokerage and trading applications. Its services cover equities, exchange-traded funds, options, fixed income, and cryptocurrencies, together with account onboarding, know-your-customer verification, order management, market data, securities lending, cash-management functionality, and regulatory support. The company was co-founded in 2015 by Yoshi Yokokawa and Hitoshi Harada. Its early work centered on processing and analyzing large financial datasets, including the development of MarketStore, an open-source time-series database. Alpaca later shifted from data infrastructure toward embedded brokerage and trading technology. A major strategic pivot led by Yokokawa in 2018 focused on abstracting away the banking, compliance, custody, and regulatory complexity involved in launching investment products. The company had registered Alpaca Securities LLC in March 2017 and received FINRA approval in 2018. Alpaca began attracting institutional investment in 2018 with a reported pre-Series A round and subsequently joined Y Combinator's Winter 2019 cohort. Its funding and geographic footprint expanded through later venture rounds, including a Series C round that supported a New York office and expansion into Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company serves both direct users of its developer tools and businesses that embed Alpaca's infrastructure into consumer-facing financial products. Its customers and partners have included investment applications, algorithmic-investing services, and digital-asset or brokerage platforms. The platform is organized around several APIs, including trading, brokerage, market-data, and crypto-related capabilities. Alpaca's technology is designed to support automated and fractional trading, account and identity workflows, and order execution at institutional scale. Its brokerage activities are conducted through regulated entities, including Alpaca Securities LLC in the United States, Alpaca Crypto LLC for cryptocurrency services, and AlpacaJapan Co., Ltd. in Japan. The company also reports relationships with financial-market organizations such as the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the Options Clearing Corporation, and the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation. Alpaca's commercial model includes enterprise API usage and other brokerage-related revenue streams. Depending on the service, these may include transaction-related fees, payment for order flow, margin interest, cash-management spreads, and other infrastructure charges. The company positions itself primarily as an infrastructure provider rather than as a conventional consumer brokerage brand: its principal value proposition is enabling other companies to launch, operate, and scale investing products without building every regulatory, custody, execution, and market-data component internally. Publicly available material does not establish a complete account of its current ownership, leadership roster, financial performance, or exact product availability in every jurisdiction.

AlpacaDB was founded in 2015 by Yoshi Yokokawa and Hitoshi Harada. The company initially concentrated on financial-data engineering, particularly the processing and analysis of large market datasets. One of its early technology projects was MarketStore, an open-source time-series database intended for financial and other high-volume time-series workloads. The company subsequently moved toward financial-market infrastructure. Alpaca Securities LLC was registered in March 2017, and Alpaca received FINRA approval in 2018. During this period, the business pivoted toward APIs that could provide the operational, regulatory, and technical components needed by companies building investment applications. Rather than requiring every customer to establish its own brokerage stack, Alpaca sought to provide account, compliance, execution, market-data, and related services through programmable interfaces. Alpaca began raising institutional capital in 2018 and participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2019 program. Later financing included a Series C round, after which the company opened a New York office and broadened its presence in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Public descriptions of the company state that it had raised more than $170 million by April 2025, although the available reference material does not provide sufficient source and timing detail for a standalone financial record here. The company developed a multi-entity operating structure. Alpaca Securities LLC handles United States securities activities and is described as a FINRA and SIPC member. Alpaca Crypto LLC supports cryptocurrency services and is registered as a money-services business. AlpacaJapan Co., Ltd. operates in Japan under local financial-market and industry memberships. Alpaca also reports participation in market-infrastructure organizations including DTCC, OCC, and FICC, and describes regulatory relationships involving the United States, Japan, and other jurisdictions. Alpaca's platform has been adopted by financial applications and investment services. Gotrade has used the Broker API to provide access to securities and other investment products in multiple countries. Composer uses the Trading API for no-code strategy design, backtesting, and automated execution. In 2025, Kraken used Alpaca's brokerage infrastructure to add United States stock and ETF trading, while ZAD and Manzil Invest USA were identified as regional partners using Alpaca's account and execution capabilities. These relationships illustrate Alpaca's continuing emphasis on becoming an infrastructure layer for consumer and institutional financial products rather than competing solely as a standalone retail brokerage.

1. 2025Expansion of embedded brokerage partnerships

   Alpaca's APIs supported new or expanded partnerships involving Kraken, ZAD, and Manzil Invest USA.

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2. 2019Y Combinator Winter 2019

   Alpaca participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2019 cohort.

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3. 2018Strategic pivot toward brokerage APIs

   Alpaca shifted from an initial emphasis on market-data technology toward APIs handling brokerage, trading, and associated regulatory workflows.

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4. 2018FINRA approval

   Alpaca received FINRA approval, supporting its development as a regulated securities-infrastructure provider.

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5. 2017Alpaca Securities LLC is registered

   The company's United States securities subsidiary was registered in March 2017 as part of its move into brokerage infrastructure.

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6. 2015AlpacaDB is founded

   Yoshi Yokokawa and Hitoshi Harada co-founded the company in the United States.

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Developer-first financial infrastructure provider enabling institutions and fintech companies to embed regulated brokerage, trading, market-data, and investment-account functionality into their own applications.

• Broker APIBrokerage infrastructure

  The Broker API enables businesses to embed brokerage capabilities into their own applications. It supports account creation, customer onboarding, KYC-related workflows, trading access, and operational infrastructure for products involving securities and other investments. The API is intended for fintech companies and institutions that want to offer investment accounts without constructing an entire brokerage platform themselves.

• Trading APITrading and automation

  The Trading API provides programmable access to order placement and portfolio-related functions. It is used by developers building automated, algorithmic, and user-directed trading applications. Composer is described as using the API for strategy design, backtesting, and execution, illustrating its role in applications that connect investment logic with live brokerage operations.

• Market Data APIFinancial market data

  Alpaca provides market-data access for developers and financial applications. The broader data offering supports the construction of trading, portfolio, research, and investment interfaces, while the company's earlier work on large-scale market-data processing informed its transition into broader brokerage infrastructure.

• Crypto APICryptocurrency infrastructure

  The Crypto API provides infrastructure for cryptocurrency-related account and trading functions. These services are operated through Alpaca Crypto LLC, which is described as a FinCEN-registered money-services business. Availability and supported assets vary by jurisdiction and applicable regulatory requirements.

• MarketStoreOpen-source financial database

  MarketStore is an open-source time-series database developed during Alpaca's early focus on financial-data processing and analysis. It represents the company's original data-infrastructure orientation before its principal business expanded into API-based brokerage and trading services.

• 2025Brokerage infrastructure powers Kraken's United States stock and ETF offeringProduct launch

  Kraken sought to extend its financial-product offering beyond cryptocurrency into United States-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds.

  What changed. Kraken used Alpaca's Broker API to support stock and ETF trading, including fractional shares and low-latency execution.

  Aftermath. The arrangement demonstrated Alpaca's role as an embedded brokerage provider for a major digital-asset platform.

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• 2018Pivot to API-based brokerage infrastructureStrategy

  Alpaca began with market-data processing and an open-source database project, but identified demand for a technology layer that could handle brokerage, banking, security, compliance, and regulatory complexity.

  What changed. The company redirected its strategy toward programmable brokerage and trading services, supported by regulated subsidiaries and APIs for account, execution, market-data, and related workflows.

  Aftermath. The pivot became the foundation of Alpaca's present business model and enabled partnerships with investment, algorithmic-trading, and digital-finance platforms.

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• 2025Kraken uses Alpaca Broker API for United States stock and ETF trading

  Kraken introduced United States stock and ETF trading using Alpaca's brokerage infrastructure, including fractional-share functionality and low-latency execution.

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• 2025Alpaca announces partnerships with ZAD and Manzil Invest USA

  Alpaca announced partnerships with regional investment platforms using its Broker API for trade execution and account infrastructure, including faith-aligned and Shariah-compliant investing services.

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• 2019Alpaca joins Y Combinator Winter 2019

  The company participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2019 cohort as it developed its API-led financial infrastructure business.

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• 2018Alpaca expands from market-data technology into API-based brokerage infrastructure

  Alpaca shifted its strategic focus toward APIs that manage brokerage, banking, security, and regulatory complexity for financial-product developers.

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• Alpaca expands internationally following Series C financing

  A Series C financing supported the opening of a New York office and expansion into European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets.

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1. AlpacaDB