Tokenization brokerage infrastructure leader Alpaca has closed a monumental $150 million Series D funding round, catapulting the company to a $1.15 billion valuation and achieving "unicorn" status. The round, reported on April 10, 2025, was led by Drive Capital and included a powerful consortium of investors such as Citadel Securities, Opera Tech Ventures (BNP Paribas' venture arm), DRW, Bank Muscat, and cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. The financing also includes a $40 million line of credit for additional balance-sheet flexibility.
Drive Capital co-founder Chris Olsen will join Alpaca's board, reflecting tighter governance as the company expands. Founded in 2015, Alpaca provides API-driven brokerage infrastructure, enabling banks, fintechs, and institutional platforms to offer access to U.S. stocks, ETFs, options, and fixed income without building their own broker-dealer operations. The company now partners with over 300 organizations across 40+ countries.
While specific fund allocation was not detailed, analysts expect the capital to fuel global expansion into new regulatory jurisdictions, product development for tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs), and strategic hiring. This round follows a $50 million Series C in late 2023, with the valuation nearly tripling in about 18 months, underscoring explosive growth in the tokenization sector.
The diverse investor syndicate signals a cross-industry consensus on tokenization as a foundational layer for future capital markets. "The simultaneous backing from a pure-play VC like Drive Capital, a quantitative trading firm like Citadel, and a crypto exchange like Kraken is exceptionally rare," noted Dr. Anya Sharma of the Digital Finance Institute. This investment is a direct bet on the critical infrastructure needed to make tokenized assets operable at scale.
Alpaca's growth is set against a market for tokenized assets projected by Boston Consulting Group to reach $16 trillion by 2030. The company distinguishes itself with a compliance-first approach, holding memberships with the OCC and FICC and being a Nasdaq Exchange Member. Its self-clearing and custody capabilities provide greater control over risk and product integration.
The funding round is a definitive milestone, validating the role of specialized brokerage infrastructure in bridging traditional finance and blockchain technology, moving the ecosystem toward a future of digitally native, programmable, and globally accessible assets.
