Alpaca, a brokerage and financial infrastructure startup, has raised $435 million consisting of $135 million in equity and $300 million in debt as it moves to expand its AI-agent-enabled trading platform and explore a formal entry into prime brokerage services. The firm currently serves clients trading across traditional and crypto markets, positioning itself as infrastructure for the next generation of algorithmic and AI-driven funds.
For Armada's crypto repo desk, Alpaca's prime brokerage ambitions are worth tracking on two fronts: first, as a potential future competitor offering financing against crypto collateral; second, as a source of new counterparty relationships, since AI-agent-driven funds using Alpaca's infrastructure may need repo financing for BTC, ETH, or SOL holdings. Armada should track the product launch timeline and evaluate whether partnership or early counterparty engagement makes sense.