Latest news with #YoshiYokokawa
Finextra
10-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
US fintech Alpaca to acquire WealthKernel
US fintech Alpaca is to acquire the UK's WealthKernel, a provider of digital investment infrastructure and tax-advantaged products for businesses. 0 Alpaca will lean on WealthKernel's EU and UK licences with the ambition of creating a global brokerage API for the wealth management industry. WealthKernel brings wealth management capabilities, including ISAs, SIPPs, and other tax-advantaged accounts, complementing Alpaca's trading infrastructure. The firm has helped the likes of Claro Money, Wahed, and Wealth8 to enter underserved areas of the wealth services market, covering areas from halal and ethical investment to ESG. It last raised £6 million in a Series extension round in Janary 2024. "The acquisition of WealthKernel is a major step for Alpaca in becoming a truly global brokerage infrastructure. WealthKernel has gained a highly regarded reputation in the UK and EU through working closely with a number of financial institutions," says Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO of Alpaca. "With WealthKernel joining us, we're directly entering the UK and EU, enhancing our support of global institutions that desire regulated investing across borders." The deal reinforces Alpaca's position as a full-stack, global brokerage infrastructure provider, enabling brokers, banks, and fintechs to launch trading, custody, and wealth products quickly, compliantly, and at scale. Earlier this year, Kraken partnered with Alpaca to deliver commission-free US equities trading to their US clients and joined as one of their 200+ global partners.
Business Wire
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Alpaca Enters UK and EU Market through WealthKernel Acquisition
NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alpaca, a self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure API, today announced its intended acquisition of WealthKernel, a wealthtech firm specializing in digital investment infrastructure and tax-advantaged products. This strategic acquisition will bring WealthKernel's UK and EU licensed brokerage infrastructure to Alpaca, supporting their rapid global expansion to achieve its mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet. 'The acquisition of WealthKernel is a major step for Alpaca in becoming a truly global brokerage infrastructure. WealthKernel has gained a highly regarded reputation in the UK and EU through working closely with a number of financial institutions,' said Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO of Alpaca. 'With WealthKernel joining us, we're directly entering the UK and EU, enhancing our support of global institutions that desire regulated investing across borders.' WealthKernel brings wealth management capabilities, including ISAs, SIPPs, and other tax-advantaged accounts, complementing Alpaca's trading infrastructure. Alpaca, which has long supported their UK and EU partners, now gains the ability to act as a fully authorized broker-dealer through WealthKernel's licenses. 'Joining forces with Alpaca will allow us to scale our mission faster, while maintaining the high standards our clients expect,' said Karan Shanmugarajah, CEO of WealthKernel. 'We're excited to bring our regulatory expertise and deep product set to Alpaca's global platform.' The deal unites a strong team with deep expertise in brokerage operations, compliance, and financial technology—leveraging shared tech and compliance frameworks. Further strengthening this foundation, Alpaca's recently appointed CFO, Nadia Asoyan, brings seasoned fintech leadership from prior executive roles at Robinhood and Square. The combined organization will continue global operations, with key hubs in North America, Europe, and Asia. This intended acquisition reinforces Alpaca's position as a full-stack, global brokerage infrastructure provider, enabling brokers, banks, and fintechs to launch trading, custody, and wealth products quickly, compliantly, and at scale. Earlier this year, Kraken strategically partnered with Alpaca to deliver commission-free US equities trading to their US clients and joined as one of their 200+ global partners. Regulatory Disclosures Completion of the acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Spanish Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores. About Alpaca Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, and 24/5 trading – raising over USD170 million in funding. Alpaca is backed by top-tier investors globally, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator. About WealthKernel WealthKernel provides investment and savings infrastructure for regulated businesses in the UK and EU. With a focus on modern wealth products, compliance, and developer-first technology, WealthKernel enables firms to build and scale digital investment experiences. Options trading is not suitable for all investors due to its inherent high risk, which can potentially result in significant losses. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before investing. All investments involve risk; for more information, please see our Disclosure Library. Brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC (member FINRA / SIPC), a subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Crypto services are provided by Alpaca Crypto LLC, a FinCEN-registered MSB (NMLS #2160858) and AlpacaDB subsidiary; it is not a SIPC or FINRA member, crypto assets are not FDIC or SIPC insured. Technology and Services offered by AlpacaDB, Inc. This is not an offer, solicitation, or advice to buy, sell, or open accounts in any jurisdiction where Alpaca is unlicensed.
Business Wire
28-04-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Kraken Offers US Securities Through Strategic Partnership with Alpaca
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kraken, one of the world's most trusted and longest-standing cryptocurrency platforms with more than 15 million global clients, now offers US securities to US-residing clients. By expanding their product offering, Kraken continues to bridge the gap between digital and traditional assets– furthering their position as an institutional grade, multi-asset-class trading platform. 'We are excited to work with Alpaca to bring US equities to our clients,' said Nick LaMaina, Managing Director of Kraken. Kraken has launched this new asset class through a strategic partnership with Alpaca – an API-first brokerage platform and self-clearing broker-dealer for stocks, ETFs, and options who serves hundreds of financial services and millions of brokerage accounts around the world. Through this partnership, Kraken is offering its users access to a large and diverse investable asset universe, combining their best-in-class crypto platform of more than 300 digital assets and 6 different fiat currencies with over 11,000 stocks and ETFs. Kraken's recent acquisition of NinjaTrader, a futures trading platform, shows their commitment in providing more investment opportunities to their clients. 'We are excited to work with Alpaca to bring US equities to our clients,' said Nick LaMaina, Managing Director of Kraken. 'This collaboration accelerates Kraken's vision of combining traditional and digital asset classes into one platform, enhancing the user experience of both new and sophisticated traders while maintaining the highest standards of trust and security.' Alpaca's Broker API empowers global partners, like Kraken, with notional and fractional orders, low-latency trade execution, and its self-clearing platform to deliver equities trading commission-free. 'We're excited to congratulate Kraken on their incredible milestone to offer US securities. Their forward-thinking approach to combine multiple asset types into one consolidated platform shows how dedicated they remain to serving the needs of their global customer base, and we're thrilled to be a part of their journey,' said Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO & Co-Founder of Alpaca. As Kraken looks ahead, they will continue to explore adding more traditional asset classes, like options, and how they can offer this around the world. About Alpaca Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto– raising over USD170 million in funding. Alpaca is backed by top-tier investors globally, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator. For more information, please visit: About Kraken Kraken is one of the world's largest digital asset exchanges and the leader in euro volume and liquidity. Globally, Kraken's client base trades more than 300 digital assets and 6 different fiat currencies, including GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, CHF, and AUD. Kraken was founded in 2011 and was one of the first exchanges to offer spot trading with margin, regulated derivatives and index services. Kraken is trusted by well over 15 million traders and institutions around the world and offers professional, round the clock online support. For more information, please visit
