Alpaca has cleared the regulatory work needed to sell its investment infrastructure across 29 European Economic Area countries from a single base in Spain.
The brokerage technology company said it completed passporting of its regulated services under the European Union’s MiFID II framework, working through an entity authorized by Spain’s securities regulator, the CNMV.
The step builds on a European push that began last year, when the US company acquired UK infrastructure firm WealthKernel and rebranded it as Alpaca Europe.
Passporting lets a firm licensed in one EU member state extend the same permissions across the bloc, without applying separately in each country.
One Authorization, 29 Markets
The passported countries run from large economies like Germany, France and Italy to smaller ones such as Malta, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Together they cover close to 500 million people, according to the company.
For fintechs and banks in those markets, Alpaca says the setup means they can plug into its account, custody and trading tools through one locally authorized European entity, rather than chasing approvals country by country.
The Spanish hub sits alongside a UK entity regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and a US self-clearing brokerage that raised $150 million in January at a $1.15 billion valuation.
Partners can access “regulated, localized investment services through a single European entity,” said Karan Shanmugarajah, chief executive of Alpaca Europe.
Alpaca Steps Onto Upvest’s Turf
The expansion sets up a sharper contest with Upvest, the Berlin firm that has spent years wiring investment features into Europe’s banking apps. Upvest raised $125 million this year at a €640 million valuation and says it processed more than 100 million orders in 2025, serving names including Revolut, N26 and Santander’s Openbank.
Upvest has been landing traditional brokers as well as neobanks. IG Group used it to launch stock trading in France in late 2025, plugging its retail clients into the same API-based rails.
CMC Markets signed on for a multi-currency equities service in Germany this year. US-based DriveWealth and Denmark’s Saxo Bank sell competing white-label trading systems to banks and fintechs across the region.
Where Upvest built its footprint from a German base, Alpaca is coming at the market with a US self-clearing operation behind it and a fresh MiFID II passport in front of it.
Its European equities business is still young, having gone live on Germany’s Xetra exchange only in April, with other venues expected to follow.
Europe Is One Front in a Wider Push
Alpaca describes itself as a self-clearing broker-dealer with more than 10 million brokerage accounts and clients in over 40 countries, backed by more than $320 million in funding.
The European build-out runs alongside expansion elsewhere. The company agreed early this year to buy a broker-dealer in India’s GIFT City, extending its licensed reach into a fourth region after the US, UK and EU.
It has also supplied the plumbing behind US equities offerings from crypto exchange Kraken and Southeast Asian app Gotrade.
Alpaca wants to “make regulated investment infrastructure easier to access, easier to integrate…,” said Yoshi Yokokawa, the firm’s chief executive and co-founder.
For now, the passport gives Alpaca the legal reach to operate across the EEA. Turning that into live business will depend on how many of the region’s banks and fintechs it can pull away from incumbents already sitting inside their apps.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.Retail FXRead More
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