CredPal, best known for letting Nigerians split purchases into instalments, is moving into investing. This week it launched Atom, a platform for buying, holding and trading Nigerian stocks, US securities and digital assets, Technext reports. The difference from most trading apps is what sits beside the portfolio: a loan.
What Atom offers
- Atom Retail: Nigerian and US stocks and more than 300 digital assets, no minimum deposit, and personalised market and portfolio insights.
- Asset-backed loans: investors can pledge qualifying holdings for naira or margin, subject to eligibility, to cover costs such as school fees or emergencies without selling.
- Atom Business: APIs and white-label products that let banks, fintechs, stockbrokers and wealth managers offer trading, portfolio management and lending to their own customers.
CredPal says the regulated parts of the service are delivered through its licensed entities or partners, with stockbroking and crypto handled by licensed brokers. "Atom is built so investors can own more and sell less," chief executive Fehintolu Olaogun said.
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Founded in 2018 and backed by Y Combinator in 2019, CredPal says it has disbursed more than $100 million in credit and serves more than one million users. It last raised $15 million in debt and equity in 2022, according to The Condia. Atom runs alongside that lending business rather than replacing it, and gives CredPal something lenders prize: collateral. A loan backed by shares or crypto the customer already holds is easier to price than an unsecured instalment plan.
It also lands in a crowded field. Bamboo, Risevest, Trove and Chaka already sell US stocks to Nigerians, and the Nigerian Exchange hit a record market value of ₦165.11 trillion on 30 October, on the same day OPay listed in New York. CredPal is betting that lending against holdings, and selling its tools to other firms, sets it apart.
