CredPal, the Nigerian fintech best known for buy now, pay later, has launched Atom, an investment app that lets Nigerians buy local stocks, US-listed shares and more than 300 digital assets in one place. Its standout feature is borrowing: investors can pledge eligible holdings and get naira without selling them.
READ ALSO: OPay Pulls Its NYSE Listing After a Foreign Regulatory Inquiry
READ ALSO: Klump Shuts Down: Why a BNPL on Jumia and Konga Failed
"Atom is built so investors can own more and sell less," said CredPal chief executive Fehintolu Olaogun.
What Atom offers
The app launched on 30 October in two versions.
| Atom Retail | Atom Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Individual investors | Banks, fintechs, stockbrokers, wealth managers |
| What you get | Nigerian stocks, US securities, 300+ digital assets, portfolio insights | APIs and white-label tools for trading, portfolio management and asset-backed lending |
| Minimum deposit | None | Not published |
| Borrowing | Pledge eligible assets for naira | Offer the same to their own customers |
CredPal says regulated activities run through its licensed entities and partners, with stock and crypto trading handled by licensed brokers. It has not named those brokers or published loan rates, fees or how much you can borrow against each asset.
How borrowing against your investments works
This is the part most Nigerian investment apps do not offer, and the part that needs the most care.
The idea is simple. Instead of selling shares to pay school fees or rent, you pledge them as security and borrow naira. You keep the shares, so you keep any future gain and dividends. You repay the loan with interest, and the shares are released.
The risk is in the price. Lenders only lend a share of what your assets are worth, and if their value falls, they ask you to add money or they sell some of your holdings to cover the loan. A simple example shows why:
| Step | Your portfolio | Your loan |
|---|---|---|
| You pledge shares worth ₦1,000,000 and borrow ₦300,000 | ₦1,000,000 | ₦300,000 |
| The shares fall 40% | ₦600,000 | ₦300,000 |
| Your loan is now half your portfolio, not 30% | ₦600,000 | ₦300,000 |
At that point most lenders will ask for more security or start selling. Volatile assets such as crypto can fall that far in days. The figures above are an illustration; Atom's actual lending limits and rates are not public yet, so read them in the app before you pledge anything.
Why CredPal is doing this
CredPal was founded in 2018, went through Y Combinator in 2019 and says it has disbursed more than $100 million in credit through its buy now, pay later product, serving over a million users. Lending is what it knows, and Atom puts that skill on top of investing.
The market it is chasing is large and almost untouched. Fewer than 4% of Nigerian adults actively invest in the capital market, according to Securities and Exchange Commission figures CredPal cites. Apps such as Bamboo, Risevest and Trove already sell US stocks to Nigerians, so Atom's pitch is the combination: invest, then borrow against what you own, in one app.
The business arm may matter as much. Chief operating officer Olorunfemi Jegede said many platforms bring customers into investing but lack the tools to support them after their first purchase, and that "most platforms should not have to build all of that themselves." If banks and brokers adopt Atom's infrastructure, CredPal earns from their customers too.
The timing
The launch comes in a hard month for Nigerian fintech headlines. Klump, another buy now, pay later company, shut down in October, and OPay pulled its New York listing on 31 October. CredPal's move is the opposite of retreat: a lender widening into wealth just as more Nigerians look for ways to protect savings from inflation.
Lessons for founders
- Build the second product on the first one's strength. CredPal did not start a new business from scratch; it took its underwriting and risk systems into a new market.
- Sell the pipes, not just the app. Atom Business turns a consumer product into infrastructure other firms pay for.
- Disclose the terms early. Borrowing against volatile assets is where users get hurt, and clear limits and rates build the trust a new investment app needs.
What to watch
- Loan terms: the share of each asset's value you can borrow, interest rates and what happens when prices fall.
- Named partners: which licensed brokers hold customers' stocks and crypto.
- Business clients: whether banks or brokers sign on to Atom Business.
Atom lets Nigerians invest and borrow against what they own in one app. The idea is sound; the loan terms will decide whether it is safe.
