Alpaca

Alpaca and SBI Holdings announce a strategic alliance with a $15M investment

Today, Alpaca, a global brokerage platform for stock and crypto trading, announced a new strategic partnership with SBI Group, a Japan-based financial services group. SBI, which boasts the largest online broker (the second largest brokerage firm) in Japan by revenue, manages over 400 billion yen in assets for VC/PE investments.

Alpaca, a global brokerage platform facilitating stock and crypto trading, has announced a strategic partnership with SBI Group, a Japan-based financial services group. In this partnership, SBI Group has made a substantial investment of US$15 million in Alpaca, signaling a commitment to drive Alpaca's growth through collaborative business development and the introduction of innovative products.

This partnership enables Alpaca to expand its business operations and offer clearing and execution services for US securities in Asia, particularly for enterprise financial institutions. Alpaca has been dedicated to expanding its Asian presence and now holds a broker-dealer license under the Japan FSA, allowing it to offer US stock investing services to enterprise financial institutions and startups in Japan.

Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-founder and CEO of Alpaca expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating that it will accelerate their mission of making financial services accessible worldwide. The strategic partnership with SBI Group significantly enhances Alpaca's presence in Asia and its ability to serve enterprise financial institutions with optimized products and services tailored to local demands.

In addition to its growth in Japan, Alpaca's brokerage platform serves businesses in nearly 30 countries worldwide, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Thailand, and India. The company has secured over US$120 million in funding from leading global investors in the industry.

Alpaca, known for its developer-first API brokerage platform, offers stock and crypto trading, real-time market data, and end-to-end brokerage infrastructure through modern APIs. It is backed by prominent investors like Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Eldridge, Positive Sum, Elefund, and Y Combinator.

SBI Group, established in 1999, has been a pioneer in Internet-based financial services in Japan. The group operates globally across various core businesses, including financial services, investment, asset management, crypto-asset services, and non-financial businesses such as biotechnology, healthcare, Web3, and overseas markets.