# Tikue Anazodo

> Tikue Anazodo is the co-founder and CEO of Kudos, the AI-powered smart wallet that automatically picks the best credit card for every purchase and layers on extra rewards. Born in Lagos and trained at Columbia, he built consumer payment products at Google and Affirm before launching Kudos in 2021 with Ahmad Ismail. What started as a browser extension is now a 'self-driving wallet' with over 200,000 users, $200M+ in annualized checkout volume, and $17.2M raised from QED, Patron, SV Angel, Max Levchin, and The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Kudos
- **Organizations:** Kudos (Kudos Technologies Inc.), Affirm, Google, Microsoft, Antik Watches, Columbia University
- **From:** Lagos, Nigeria
- **Nationality:** Nigerian-American
- **Education:** Computer Science, Columbia University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Kudos, an AI-powered smart wallet used by 200,000+ people., Raised $17.2M total, including a $10.2M Series A led by QED Investors., Grew annualized checkout gross merchandise volume past $200 million.

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Moved from Lagos, Nigeria to the U.S. to study computer science at Columbia University, entering without prior coding experience.
- **2011** — Product management internship at Microsoft.
- **2013-2016** — Product Manager at Microsoft, working on IPTV products deployed to tens of millions of users.
- **2016-2020** — Founded Antik Watches, a side business designing and selling wooden watches.
- **2016-2021** — Lead Product Manager at Google, helping launch Google Pay's online product; also crossed paths with YouTube and commerce products.
- **2021** — Worked on consumer payments at Affirm under Max Levchin before leaving to found Kudos with Ahmad Ismail.
- **2021** — Co-founded Kudos; shipped first product (a checkout browser extension) within about two months.
- **2022** — Raised a $7M seed round (Patron, QED Investors, SciFi VC, SV Angel); grew from ~1,000 beta testers.
- **2024** — Raised $10.2M Series A led by QED Investors at more than double the seed valuation; 200,000 users and $200M+ annualized checkout GMV.
- **2025** — Named to Forbes Fintech 50; expanded Kudos into agentic features and AI-driven recommendations.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Kudos, an AI-powered smart wallet used by 200,000+ people.
- Raised $17.2M total, including a $10.2M Series A led by QED Investors.
- Grew annualized checkout gross merchandise volume past $200 million.
- Built and launched the first Kudos product within roughly two months of founding.
- Named to Forbes' Fintech 50.
- Backed by Max Levchin, QED Investors, Patron, SV Angel, Samsung Next, Precursor Ventures, and The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly.
- Developed consumer payment products at Google (Google Pay online) and Affirm before founding Kudos.

## Latest updates

- **2024-05** — Kudos raised a $10.2M Series A led by QED Investors; reported 200,000 users and $200M+ annualized checkout volume.
- **2025** — Featured by Forbes on Kudos Technologies; expanded into agentic AI features like automated offer activation and bill negotiation.

## Links

- Website: https://joinkudos.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tikue-anazodo-27b82a22/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/iamtikue
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075907756054

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tikue-anazodo
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04