Alpaca Acquires UK-Based WealthKernel
- Kendrick Wakeman, CFA
- 5 hours ago
- 1 min read
Alpaca, a self-clearing API infrastructure for embedding stock, fixed income, and crypto trading, announced that they are acquiring WealthKernel, an API-based WealthTech infrastructure company that allows for the creation of WealthTech using a building-block approach.
The transaction is being touted as a way for Alpaca to expand into the UK market. That makes sense to us. Apart from the installed base and brand, there are a lot of little things that WealthKernel has already solved for, such as the fact that in the UK they don't have IRA and Roth account types but use tax wrappers called ISAs, SIPPs, etc. instead. And then there are the differing regulatory environments to contend with as well. The acquisition should get them to market a lot faster, cheaper, and with fewer grey hairs.
However, there are also some product synergies and compliments. Overall, we feel that the combined product offering is more robust than the two on their own so we are hoping they also integrate their feature sets.
In any case, it is nice to see a solid cross-boarder acquisition. At some point, we hope to see WealthTech as a more unified, global market. Perhaps not in my lifetime, but someday.
