Kudos, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of an AI-powered smart wallet service that optimizes consumer rewards and benefits on purchases, raised $10.2 million in Series A funding. The round was led by QED Investors, with participation from Patron, The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly, Samsung Next, SV Angel, Precursor Ventures, The Mini Fund, Newtype Ventures, and the Four Cities Fund.
The company plans to use the funds to roll out new services that will enhance its smart wallet capabilities. Kudos, led by CEO Tikue Anazodo, offers an AI-powered smart wallet service to over 200,000 members. The service acts as a comprehensive smart wallet assistant for consumers, recommending or automatically selecting the best credit card to use for maximizing rewards and cashback.
Recently, the company launched several new features, including MariaGPT, an AI-powered card discovery tool with over 3,000 cards in its database; Dream Wallet, which recommends cards that fill gaps in a member’s wallet based on their spending habits; and Kudos Boost, which delivers personalized rewards that augment card rewards across over 15,000 partner brands, including Walmart and Sephora.
Founded in 2021 by a team with experience from Google, PayPal, and Affirm, Kudos is available as a browser extension (compatible with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari) and as an app in the Apple App Store. Kudos’ innovative approach leverages AI to simplify the management of credit card rewards, providing users with tailored recommendations and optimizing their benefits automatically. This latest funding round will enable the company to further expand its feature set and improve the overall user experience, making it easier for consumers to maximize their financial rewards effortlessly.
In addition to enhancing its product offerings, Kudos intends to invest in expanding its user base and increasing its market presence. With a growing number of consumers looking for smarter ways to manage their finances, Kudos is well-positioned to capitalize on this demand by offering a seamless and intelligent solution for optimizing credit card rewards. The company’s focus on delivering personalized and automated financial advice aligns with the broader trend towards leveraging technology to enhance personal finance management, setting the stage for continued growth and innovation in the fintech space.
