The digital lender, known for providing quick loans, has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate as a fund and portfolio manager. 

This expansion is aimed at filling the gap between high-end wealth management firms and individuals who just want straightforward investment opportunities.

The company is betting on a simple idea to help many Nigerians—freelancers, small business owners, and salary earners—who want to invest but don’t know where to start. 

“Securing our SEC licence is the culmination of years of building institutional-grade compliance systems,” said Babatunde Akin-Moses, Sycamore’s CEO. “We’re not pivoting from lending; this is a strategic expansion that complements our core business.”

Unlike traditional firms such as ARM, Stanbic IBTC, and FBNQuest that focus on high-net-worth clients, or fintech apps like Bamboo and Rise that target tech-savvy investors, Sycamore is carving out space for the middle market. 

This includes people who want their money to grow but don’t have the time or expertise for the complex financial markets.

To lead this new direction, the company has appointed Oluwagbenga Magbagbeola, a former managing director at ARM Securities with 17 years of experience in capital markets. “Joining Sycamore allows me to bridge traditional capital markets expertise with fintech innovation at precisely the right time,” Magbagbeola said. “The SEC licence creates a regulatory framework for what many Nigerians are already seeking—protected pathways for investment diversification during economic uncertainty.”

The company is rolling out an upgraded mobile app that will provide real-time investment analytics and a multi-currency wallet. Users will be able to invest in stocks, bonds, and money-market instruments, holding funds in USD, EUR, GBP, and NGN. 

Sycamore also plans to introduce alternative investments, including Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and a USD-denominated investment product.

Revenue from the asset management business will come from management fees and performance-based earnings, but Sycamore hasn’t shared specific financial targets yet. The company does, however, have plans to raise additional capital by 2025 or 2026 to expand its reach across Africa.

“We’re addressing a major gap in Nigeria’s investment market,” said Onyinye Okonji, Sycamore’s co-founder and chief compliance officer. “Traditional asset management has remained out of reach for many Nigerians. Our goal is to change that.”

Sycamore is moving from being just a digital lender, to a financial hub for Nigerians looking to borrow, invest, and build long-term wealth. 

The company is stepping into a competitive space, but its focus on accessibility might be the key to standing out in the crowded market.

The competition concluded on July 19th with a high-profile Demo Day in Lagos, where 10 finalists displayed their innovative solutions.

Sycamore, a fintech platform specialising in peer-to-peer lending came first. Founded in 2019 by Babatunde Akin-Moses, Sycamore secured the top prize of $100,000. 

The platform is focused on bridging the credit gap in Africa through technological solutions that facilitate connections between lenders and borrowers.

In second place, Kunda Kids, an edtech company offering engaging, African-themed digital content for children, parents, and libraries, was awarded $70,000. 

Following closely, PaveHQ, a learning and career ecosystem designed to support students in achieving successful careers, received $50,000 as the third-place winner.

The NPI 2.0 programme, which attracted over 7,000 applications this year, aims to facilitate technological innovation within Nigeria. The initiative supports technology-enabled businesses across various sectors including financial services, agriculture, health, and education.

The competition is structured in four stages, ending with the Demo Day where finalists present their innovations to a panel of judges.

Beyond the cash prizes, winners will also benefit from a five-week, all-expenses-paid training at Draper University in Silicon Valley, aimed at broadening their global exposure.

NSIA’s managing director, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, spoke on the programme’s role in advancing Nigeria’s digital economy and enabling a solid startup industry. 

He emphasised that the NSIA’s investment goes beyond just financial support, incorporating equity stakes in the winning companies to facilitate their growth and impact.

Kola Owodunni, NSIA’s executive director and chief investment officer, noted that the NPI programme is designed to stimulate the Nigerian startup industry and showcases promising companies to potential investors, thus facilitating their growth across Africa and beyond.

This year’s NSIA Prize for Innovation 2.0 has strengthened the NSIA’s focus in supporting early-stage innovations that promise to create sustainable economic benefits and enhance Nigeria’s global technological footprint.

Nigeria’s domestic credit market pales in comparison to similar countries of the same size. For context, credit to the private sector in Nigeria is about 12 percent of GDP, lower than South Africa’s 129 percent and Malaysia’s 134 percent.

High ratios of credit to the private sector in these countries have helped to ramp up real sector growth, create innovative innovation possibilities for technology-enabled businesses, accelerate financial development, ensure the efficient functioning of the economy and guarantee the prosperity of the private sector.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other development partners including the Bank of Industry (BoI), the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), among others have embarked on significant credit injections to support the critical sectors of the economy, but the paucity of credit assessment infrastructure ensures many potential borrowers are denied access to loans, and when they do, they can be charged as much as triple the base interest rate.

This financial exclusion has significant outcomes for the real sector as lack of access to credit can be a disincentive to entrepreneurship, investment, and economic growth.

Canadian fintech startup and credit assessment company, Periculum, has launched in Nigeria to tackle the challenge of domestic credit to the underserved markets.

Focused on improving financial inclusion in emerging markets through automated credit assessment tools that close the consumer credit gap and help financial institutions provide credit facilities to the financially excluded while making smarter decisions, Periculum officially launched its financial service product offerings at a media interaction today.

Speaking at the launch, Michael Temitope Collins, Periculum’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, said “Africa needs domestic credit to stimulate real economic growth. And this is not only bank-to-business credit; it can also be digital lending for short-term credit as well as “buy now, pay later” schemes. The absence of tech-enabled credit assessment infrastructure has limited the quality and quantity of lending and may be behind the risk premiums borrowers have to pay, and the harassment practiced by predatory lenders in countries like Nigeria.

Periculum will change that. We are a top provider of data analytics and credit assessment services targeted explicitly to underserved markets. We help our customers to reduce their lengthy loan application processing times and loan default rates and offer loans to the underbanked and unbanked consumers as well as micro, small and medium-scale enterprises.

With reliable, tech-enabled, credit assessment services, financial institutions can increase lending to those that need credit.”

The company has also announced the appointment of Damilola Aluede as the managing director, to accelerate its business in Nigeria.

Founded in 2019, Periculum helps its banking and lending customers identify fraud risk, assess creditworthiness, and analyze existing data.

The startup offers real-time decision-making, analysis, and credit underwriting solutions to financial institutions including banks, non-banking financial companies, and fintech companies.

By providing information on the financial worthiness of customers and automating the loan decision process, Periculum’s customers can gather and analyze borrower information and assign a credit score faster, with real outcomes on financial inclusion in Nigeria and other markets.

Periculum offers data aggregation APIs and platform solutions that aggregate data from partners including open banking APIs and the credit bureaus, to provide complete financial and data profiles of prospective borrowers and third-party entities.

Some of its clients include Fundii, Lendaba, Sycamore, Golden Ox partners, Vola Africa and Venero.

On its product roadmap and current services, Collins added “We offer services that include Credit model development, SMS data aggregation and analysis, financial data analysis, and other data analytic solutions. We can help our customers with solutions such as fraud detection, insights for lenders based on customer segmentation and customer lifecycle value, insights to retailers and ATM operators, and several other benefits”.

The startup was accepted into Techstars in 2021 and is among the 2021 Techstars Montréal AI cohort, as well as the Founder Institutes’ Select Portfolio.

In October 2021, Periculum raised a $620,000 pre-seed funding round to help it expand its team, improve product development and scale its operations in Nigeria and other markets. The company currently delivers services to customers in Canada and Nigeria and plans to expand to Ghana, Kenya, and Egypt before the end of 2022.

For many countries in Africa, there is still a financial divide. By tackling the credit assessment challenge, Periculum can build the financial infrastructure that helps in addressing the issue of access to financial services and improves development outcomes for millions of people, with better opportunities for businesses, financial institutions, and lenders.