Alpaca has closed a $135 million funding round to build what it calls an AI agent trading infrastructure — a system designed to let autonomous software agents trade both crypto and traditional assets. The company announced the raise on July 17, marking one of the largest bets this year on the idea that AI agents will be the next big user class in markets.
What Alpaca is building
The platform is meant to be a single backend that AI agents can plug into to execute trades across stocks, crypto, and other asset classes. Rather than building separate connectors for each market, the idea is that an agent can call one API and get access to order routing, data feeds, and compliance checks for both crypto and traditional finance. Alpaca already has a brokerage API for US stocks and a crypto trading service; the new funding will go toward expanding that infrastructure specifically for AI agents.
AI agents — programs that can plan, reason, and execute tasks without human step-by-step instructions — have been a hot topic in tech this year. But most are still limited to text generation or simple automation. Alpaca is betting that the next wave will be agents that actually move money. The company is positioning itself as the rails for that shift, spanning two worlds that have historically been walled off from each other.
Who’s funding it
The round was led by a mix of traditional venture firms and crypto-native investors, though Alpaca did not name the lead investor in its announcement. The $135 million figure includes both equity and token warrants, the company said. Alpaca has raised about $200 million total to date, including its earlier Series A.
What’s next
Alpaca plans to roll out the new AI agent infrastructure in phases starting later this year. The company is hiring engineers and compliance staff to build out the system. The big question — and one the funding round is designed to answer — is whether enough developers will build agents that actually need to trade, and whether regulators will be comfortable with autonomous programs handling real money.
