Fintech
Kudos gets $10 million for an AI smart wallet that chooses the best credit card for purchases
From our days of clipping coupons out of the newspaper to searching for a coupon code online, consumers are increasingly focused on finding perks and perks when shopping.
Compliments it’s one of those companies that helps us do that. It created an AI-powered smart wallet that recommends the right credit card to maximize rewards and cashback when you make purchases.
Kudos uses artificial intelligence to understand consumers’ spending habits so it can provide more personalized financial advice, such as maximizing rewards and using credit effectively, Tikue Anazodo, co-founder and CEO of Kudos, told TechCrunch .
Consumers can use Kudos through an app and browser extension, similar to Honey. There are startups like Kard, Power, Bilt Awards AND Maximum prizes also developing in this space.
“Many of our members say that using Kudos is like having Apple Pay, Honey and Credit Karma in one app,” Anazodo said via email. “However, we automatically optimize payments, find personalized offers for merchants, and provide intelligent financial advice, all supported by advanced artificial intelligence.”
The Compliments team.Image credits: Compliments
Anazodo started Kudos with Ahmad Ismail after working together at Google and Affirm. They later performed as part of Battlefield 200 at TC Disrupt in 2022.
TechCrunch profiled the company in 2022 when raised 7 million dollars in seed funding from investors including Patron, QED Investors, SciFi VC and SV Angel. At the time, Kudos was in beta mode with 36% month-over-month user growth and 90% retention.
Since 2022, Kudos has grown from 1,000 beta testers to 200,000 registered users and grown annualized gross merchandise volume at checkout to more than $200 million, Anazodo said.
It also features some new features, including MariaGPT, an AI-powered card discovery tool that indexes and recommends over 3,000 cards in its database; Dream Wallet, which provides personalized card recommendations based on the user’s spending habits; and Kudos Boost, which offers personalized cash back rewards on top of existing credit card rewards for more than 15,000 partner brands and retailers.
Anazodo declined to go into detail about revenue growth other than to say “we are still in the early stages of revenue generation.”
All this growth has led investors to pour additional funds into the company. QED Investors returned to lead the $10.2 million Series A for Kudos. They are joined by Patron, The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly, Samsung Next, SV Angel, Precursor Ventures, The Mini Fund, Newtype Ventures and Four Cities Fund. This new investment brings Kudos $17.2 million in total VC funding raised to date.
Anazodo declined to provide specific valuation numbers, but said the new valuation is more than double its initial valuation.
The company intends to maintain a lean team. There are 14 employees today versus 11 in 2022. It will deploy funding to new AI-powered services for its smart wallet product and expand MariaGPT into a general-purpose personal financial assistant and a portal that allows members to book flights with points in so that consumers don’t do it. I must not leave Kudos, Anazodo said.
As part of the investment, Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors, joins the board of directors of Kudos.
“We chose QED Investors to lead the round because of their deep expertise in fintech and their strong belief in our vision for Kudos,” Anazodo said. “Their strategic insights, extensive network and proven track record of developing successful fintech companies, such as Credit Karma’s Series A, made them the ideal partner to help us navigate this next phase of growth.”
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