Kudos, a company revolutionizing consumer credit card use, has raised $10.2M in Series A funding, led by QED Investors. The AI-powered smart wallet is designed to recommend the optimal credit card for purchases, helping users maximize rewards and cash back.

“Kudos uses artificial intelligence to figure out consumer spending habits so it can then provide more personalized financial advice, like maximizing rewards and utilizing credit effectively,” Tikue Anazodo, co-founder and CEO of Kudos, told TechCrunch.

Founded by Anazodo and Ahmad Ismail, former colleagues at Google and Affirm, Kudos has shown significant growth. Since exhibiting at the Battlefield 200 at TC Disrupt in 2022, the user base has expanded from 1,000 beta testers to 200,000 registered users. The company has also increased its annualized checkout gross merchandise volume to over $200 million.

Kudos has introduced new features, including MariaGPT, an AI-powered card discovery tool that recommends from a database of over 3,000 cards; Dream Wallet, offering personalized card recommendations based on spending habits; and Kudos Boost, providing additional personalized cash-back rewards with over 15,000 partner brands and retailers.

Although Anazodo did not disclose specific revenue figures, he mentioned that “we are still in the early stages of revenue generation.” The company’s impressive growth prompted further investment from QED Investors, Patron, The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly, Samsung Next, SV Angel, Precursor Ventures, The Mini Fund, Newtype Ventures, and the Four Cities Fund. With this new round, Kudos has raised a total of $17.2 million in venture-backed funding.

Anazodo noted that the company's new valuation is more than double its seed valuation. The investment will support the development of new AI-powered services for its smart wallet product and expand MariaGPT into a comprehensive personal finance assistant, enabling members to book flights with points directly through Kudos.

The team remains lean, with 14 employees, up from 11 in 2022. Amias Gerety, a partner at QED Investors, has joined Kudos’ board of directors.

“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 in scaling successful fintech companies, such as leading Credit Karma’s Series A, made them the ideal partner to help us navigate this next phase of growth.”