We’re proud to share that Alpaca’s Co-Founder and CEO, Yoshi Yokokawa, was recognized as an Endeavor Entrepreneur at the 104th Endeavor International Selection Panel held in Cambridge, UK, from September 9–11, 2025.
Endeavor, known as the “Global Network of Trust”, identifies and supports exceptional entrepreneurs who have the potential to scale transformative businesses and multiply their impact across industries and regions. With this selection, Yoshi joins one of the world’s most prestigious communities of high-impact founders driving innovation, job creation, and inclusive economic growth.
From Building AI Models to Building Global Infrastructure
After a career in financial services, Yoshi became a serial entrepreneur, founding multiple ventures. His first company, an image recognition product, was acquired by Kyocera Communication Systems Co., Ltd., a Japanese electronics manufacturer.
Inspired by his experience in finance and the rise of developer-focused API companies such as Stripe and Plaid, Yoshi conceived the idea of “stock brokerage platform built by developers, for developers.” This vision became the foundation for Alpaca—a brokerage infrastructure API providing access to multiple asset classes including options, stocks, ETFs, fixed income, and crypto.
Since its founding, Alpaca has grown into a category-defining global leader in brokerage infrastructure. Guided by its mission to open financial services to everyone on the planet by building the global de facto standard infrastructure for investing, Alpaca now powers hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries, supporting over 7 million brokerage accounts worldwide.
With its developer-first APIs, self-clearing capabilities across multiple asset classes, and global-first approach, Alpaca continues to reshape how financial applications are built, scaled, and trusted.
A Recognition of Leadership, Trust, and Global Ambition
Yoshi’s selection into Endeavor’s global community underscores Alpaca’s growing influence as a trusted fintech infrastructure leader. Endeavor’s rigorous selection process—known for identifying founders who demonstrate both business excellence and a commitment to long-term impact—reflects the same core values that define Alpaca’s leadership team: curiosity, empathy, and accountability.
Throughout the evaluation, Alpaca was recognized not only for its technological and business model innovation, but also for its support of fintech entrepreneurs worldwide and contributions to expanding the global startup ecosystem.
By enabling Shariah-compliant investing*, 24/5 trading**, and tokenization***, Alpaca has earned the trust of a diverse range of partners—from regional investment platforms such as Midas (Turkey), Dime! (Thailand), and Sarwa (Middle East), to global financial institutions including Kraken and SBI Securities. Through its Broker API and Trading API, Alpaca continues to increase access to global capital markets for retail investors around the world.
In an industry where trust, regulation, and technology converge, Yoshi’s Endeavor recognition opens new opportunities for cross-border collaboration, mentorship, and knowledge exchange with some of the world’s most respected entrepreneurs and investors.
With a final acceptance rate of just 1.6%, Yoshi’s selection recognizes Alpaca’s innovative business model, global growth trajectory, and visionary leadership. Only 24 entrepreneurs from 11 companies were chosen at the Cambridge ISP.
Driving the Future of Global Financial Innovation
As part of the Endeavor Network, Yoshi will collaborate with fellow founders and ecosystem leaders who are shaping the next generation of global fintech innovation.
“Yoshi’s selection reflects both Alpaca’s remarkable growth and his commitment to shaping the future of global fintech,” said Rina Otsuka, Executive Director, Endeavor Japan. “Alpaca’s API-first approach to empowering entrepreneurs, institutions, and investors is a perfect example of the multiplier effect we champion within Endeavor Entrepreneurs.”
“Being selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur is a humbling recognition of the incredible work our team has done to further our mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet,” said Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder & CEO of Alpaca. “Alpaca has always been about empowering global partners and institutions to build platforms that are scalable, stable, and responsive to investors’ needs. This recognition accelerates that goal and inspires us to continue collaborating with entrepreneurs who are building innovative financial solutions.”
From developing image recognition models to building the de facto global infrastructure for investing, Yoshi’s journey is a testament to how vision, resilience, and innovation can transcend industries—and why Alpaca continues to help shape the evolving world of financial technology.
Yoshi will be speaking at the Endeavor Japan Summit on November 21st in Tokyo.
Contact Alpaca
About Alpaca
Alpaca is a US-headquartered, self-clearing broker-dealer and a global leader in brokerage infrastructure APIs providing access to stocks, ETFs, options, fixed income, and crypto. Alpaca delivers embeddable finance solutions for tokenization, fully paid securities lending, high-yield cash, 24/5 trading, Shariah-compliant investing and more. Today, Alpaca powers over 7 million brokerage accounts across hundreds of fintechs and institutions in 40+ countries with over $170M in funding.
About Endeavor
Endeavor is a non-profit organization founded in the United States in 1997 to support entrepreneurs. With “Entrepreneurs First” as its core philosophy, it helps build ecosystems around the world where entrepreneurs can grow more easily. Endeavor selects entrepreneurs from each region who contribute to the medium- to long-term growth of the global economy and supports their further growth through mentoring, funding assistance, and other resources. Today, Endeavor operates in 45+ countries and has helped over 2,900 entrepreneurs in their journeys to scale. Its members have created over 4 million jobs and generated more than $88.5 billion in annual revenue collectively, fueling inclusive economic growth through entrepreneurship.
*Alpaca does not make any representation that its products or services are Shariah-compliant. Customers are solely responsible for determining whether any offering meets their own Shariah requirements.
**Orders placed outside regular trading hours (9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET) may experience price fluctuations, partial executions, or delays due to lower liquidity and higher volatility.
Orders not designated for extended hours execution will be queued for the next trading session.
Additionally, fractional trading may be limited during extended hours. For more details, please review Alpaca Extended Hours & Overnight Trading Risk Disclosure.
***Alpaca's Instant Tokenization Network is owned and developed by AlpacaDB, Inc. and Alpaca Crypto LLC.
Additional geographic restrictions may apply for tokenization services based on local regulatory requirements. Neither Alpaca Crypto LLC nor Alpaca Securities LLC are the issuer of, nor directly involved in, the tokenization of any assets. Tokenization is performed by a third party. Tokenized assets do not represent direct equity ownership in any underlying company or issuer. Instead, tokenized assets generally provide economic exposure to the equity securities of an underlying issuer. As such, holders of tokenized assets have no voting rights, dividend entitlements, or legal claims to the underlying company shares or any residual assets in the event of the underlying company’s liquidation or insolvency, unless explicitly stated otherwise. All investments involve risk. For more information, please see our Tokenization Risk Disclosure.
Alpaca and the entities mentioned in this article are not affiliated and are not responsible for the liabilities of others.
The content of this blog is for general informational purposes only.
The testimonials, statements, and opinions presented on the website are applicable to the specific individuals. It is important to note that individual circumstances may vary, and may not be representative of the experience of others. There are no guarantees of future performance or success. The testimonials are voluntarily provided and are not paid, nor were they provided with free products, services or any other benefit in exchange for said statements.
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 in options.
Fixed income securities can experience a greater risk of principal loss when interest rates rise. These investments are also subject to additional risks, including credit quality fluctuations, market volatility, liquidity constraints, prepayment or early redemption, corporate actions, tax implications, and other influencing factors.
All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives. Keep in mind that while diversification may help spread risk, it does not assure a profit, or protect against loss. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities, or other financial products. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing.
Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca Securities"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.
Cryptocurrency services are provided by Alpaca Crypto LLC, a FinCEN-registered MSB (NMLS ID 2160858) and is a subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and speculative, involving substantial risk of loss, and are not insured by the FDIC or any government agency. Customers should be aware of the various risks prior to engaging these services, including potential loss of principal, cybersecurity considerations, regulatory developments, and the evolving nature of digital asset technology. For additional information on the risks of cryptocurrency, please click here.
This is not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities or cryptocurrencies or open a brokerage account or cryptocurrency account in any jurisdiction where Alpaca Securities or Alpaca Crypto, respectively, are not registered or licensed, as applicable.
