Investment platform Alpaca has hired Juha Ristolainen as its new chief technology officer, the company announced today (Wednesday). The appointment comes as the startup looks to expand internationally following its recent $52 million Series C funding round.

Alpaca Hires Former Upvest CTO Ristolainen as Tech Chief

Ristolainen joins Alpaca from Berlin-based investment infrastructure company Upvest, where he spent five years as Co-Founder and CTO. During his tenure there, he helped scale the engineering team from a handful of employees to nearly 100 people while building an API platform that serves major fintech clients, including Revolut, N26, and Bunq.

Before Upvest, Ristolainen held the CTO role for TransferWise's business division (now known as Wise), where he led API strategy and platform development for two years. His career spans more than two decades in digital finance, including leadership positions at automotive giant Daimler's innovation hub Hub A hub as its name suggests describes the center of activity or a focal point. In terms of finance, the term hub can refer to Hub and Spoke Trading or a liquidity hub. However, the terms are not interchangeable, but they do overlap. Hub and Spoke trading refer to a network that posts bids and offers for an asset and therefore creates a real market. For example, Hub and Spoke trading allow traders to see the other submissions and offers from other traders on the platform. This is a popular method A hub as its name suggests describes the center of activity or a focal point. In terms of finance, the term hub can refer to Hub and Spoke Trading or a liquidity hub. However, the terms are not interchangeable, but they do overlap. Hub and Spoke trading refer to a network that posts bids and offers for an asset and therefore creates a real market. For example, Hub and Spoke trading allow traders to see the other submissions and offers from other traders on the platform. This is a popular method Read this Term and venture capital firm InMotion Ventures.

"As CTO, Ristolainen will lead Alpaca's technical architecture and engineering teams at scale to support the company's mission: opening financial services to everyone on the planet," the company said in a statement.

The startup recently partnered with Kraken, allowing the crypto exchange to offer access to 11,000 stocks and ETFs.

$52M Series C Round

Alpaca operates as a self-clearing broker-dealer that provides brokerage infrastructure to other financial services companies. The platform currently powers more than 5 million brokerage accounts across 40+ countries, according to the company.

At Upvest, Ristolainen helped raise approximately $180 million in funding through the company's Series C round in 2024. The platform he helped develop allows companies to integrate various asset classes, including ETFs, stocks, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies into their own products.

Alpaca's recent funding round Funding Round Startups look to raise capital can participate in a funding round. These refers to the various rounds of funding that occur upon proof of concept, customer base growth, and the probability of success. While they are various types of funding rounds, the most commonly seen in startups include the following funding rounds: Seed, Series A Fundraising, Series B Fundraising, and Series C Fundraising. In order for a funding round to take place, a valuation must be performed by analysts for the business Startups look to raise capital can participate in a funding round. These refers to the various rounds of funding that occur upon proof of concept, customer base growth, and the probability of success. While they are various types of funding rounds, the most commonly seen in startups include the following funding rounds: Seed, Series A Fundraising, Series B Fundraising, and Series C Fundraising. In order for a funding round to take place, a valuation must be performed by analysts for the business Read this Term positions the company to compete more directly with established players in the brokerage infrastructure space. The startup has been expanding its international presence as demand grows for API-based financial services among fintech companies and traditional financial institutions.