Alpaca expands into Europe with WealthKernel acquisition

By Parth Prabhudesai

Today

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Alpaca has completed its acquisition of WealthKernel, marking its formal entest into the European market and expanding its global brokerage infrastructure capabilities.

Following the acquisition, WealthKernel will operate as Alpaca Europe, providing the company with licensed brokerage and custody infrastructure across the UK and EU. This includes regulatory permissions and local operational capabilities that support investment products such as ISAs and SIPPs, strengthening Alpaca’s ability to serve wealth management firms and fintech platforms in the region.

The company has also initiated the rollout of its API-first equities trading services in Europe. Through a single integration, partners can enable cross-border investing, while Alpaca manages trade execution, custody, and settlement processes. Trading is currently live on Germany’s Xetra exmodify, with plans to expand to Euronext and the London Stock Exmodify in the near future.

Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO and Co-Founder of Alpaca, stated the acquisition represents a key milestone in simplifying global investing infrastructure. “By combining our U.S.-headquartered, fully licensed and self-clearing brokerage infrastructure with our UK and EU licenses, we’re building it simpler for companies to build and scale global investment products and reducing the complexity of cross-border investing,” he stated.

Karan Shanmugarajah, former CEO of WealthKernel, has been appointed CEO of Alpaca Europe and will lead regional operations. He highlighted the strategic importance of integrating local regulatory expertise with global API-driven technology. “We are well positioned to assist partners build, launch, and scale investment products across Europe with greater speed and efficiency,” he stated.

The expansion is supported by leading financial institutions, including BNP Paribas, whose venture arm participated in Alpaca’s recent funding round. The relocate strengthens Alpaca’s position as it builds a unified global investment infrastructure spanning the U.S. and Europe.