US brokerage platform Alpaca has secured unicorn status after raising $150 million in a Series D funding round, with plans to boost its ongoing international expansion.
The Series D funding round values Alpaca at $1.15 billion and was led by Columbus-based VC firm Drive Capital. As part of the investment, Chris Olsen, co-founder and partner at Drive Capital, will join the company’s board of directors.
Existing investors Spark Capital, Portage, and Social Leverage also participated in the raise, alongside new investors Ribbit Capital, Tribe Capital, Citadel Securities, MUFG Innovation Partners, and BNP Paribas’ Opera Tech Ventures, among others.
In addition to the equity, Alpaca says it has also secured a new $40 million credit line to further strengthen its balance sheet.
Based in Silicon Valley, California, Alpaca offers full-stack brokerage infrastructure that helps companies create apps for investing and trading in stocks, options, and crypto.
The company added multi-leg options, fully paid securities lending, fixed-income, and 24/5 US stock trading to the platform last year.
In a statement, Alpaca says the funds will be used to “further strengthen its global investment infrastructure”. This includes efforts to establish regulatory approvals and a local market presence in “key jurisdictions”, as well as “advancing institutional-grade trading capabilities”, the company adds.
Alpaca notably acquired digital investment infrastructure provider WealthKernel to secure an entry into UK and EU markets in July last year, using proceeds from a $52 million Series C funding round closed three months prior. The company also operates in Asia in partnership with SBI Group.
Source: https://www.fintechfutures.com/venture-capital-funding/alpaca-raises-150m-series-d
