Earn $10 million in AI smart wallet that chooses the best credit card for your purchases
From the days of cutting coupons out of newspapers to searching for coupon codes online, consumers are all about finding benefits and perks when shopping.
praise is one of the companies that can help you do just that. We created an AI-powered smart wallet that recommends the right credit card to maximize rewards and cashback on purchases.
Kudos uses artificial intelligence to understand consumers’ spending habits and can provide more personalized financial advice, such as maximizing rewards and making better use of credit, said Kudos co-founder and CEO Tikwe. Anazod told TechCrunch.
Consumers can use Kudos through an app and browser extension, similar to Honey. Startups such as Kard, Power, Bilt Rewards, and MaxRewards are also developing in this space.
“Many of our members say using Kudos is like having Apple Pay, Honey, and Credit Karma all in one app,” Anazod said in an email. “But we automatically optimize payments, find personalized merchant offers, and provide smart financial recommendations, all powered by advanced AI.”
Anzodo started Kudos with Ahmad Ismail after working together at Google and Affirm. It was then displayed as part of Battlefield 200 at TC Disrupt in 2022.
TechCrunch reported that the company raised $7 million in seed funding in 2022 from investors including Patron, QED Investors, SciFi VC, and SV Angel. At the time, Kudos was in beta mode, with user numbers at 36% month over month and retention rate at 90%.
Since 2022, Kudos has grown from 1,000 beta testers to 200,000 registered users, and annual checkout gross product volume has increased to more than $200 million, Anazod said.
There are also several new features, including MariaGPT, an AI-powered card discovery tool that indexes and recommends over 3,000 cards in its database. Dream Wallet provides personalized card recommendations based on users’ spending habits. Kudos Boost offers personalized cash back benefits on top of your existing credit card benefits to over 15,000 partner brands and retailers.
Mr. Anazod declined to discuss specific revenue growth, other than to say, “We are still in the early stages of revenue generation.”
This growth led investors to pump additional capital into the company. QED Investors is back to lead his $10.2 million Series A in Kudos. Participating parties include Patreon, The Point Guy founder Brian Kelly, Samsung Next, SV Angel, Precursor Ventures, The Mini Fund, Newtype Ventures, and Four Cities Fund. This new investment brings Kudos’ total venture-backed funding raised to date to $17.2 million.
Anazod declined to disclose a specific valuation, but said the new valuation is more than double the seed valuation.
The company intends to maintain a lean team. The current number of employees is 14, but in 2022 it will be 11. The company is deploying funds into new AI-powered services for its smart wallet products and expanding MariaGPT into a general-purpose personal finance assistant and portal where members can book flights with points, giving consumers peace of mind. I plan to make it. There is no need to leave Kudos, Anazod said.
As part of the investment, Amias Gerety, Partner at QED Investors, will join Kudos’ Board of Directors.
“We chose QED Investors to lead the round because of their deep fintech expertise and strong belief in our vision for Kudos,” Anazod said. “Their strategic insights, extensive network, and proven track record of scaling successful fintech companies, including a Series A from leading Credit Karma, make them ideal to help us take our company to the next stage of growth.” We have become a great partner.”
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