Insurtech startup Corgi, which provides business insurance for startups, has raised $106 million in a Series B1 funding round at a $2.6 billion valuation, just three weeks after announcing a $160 million Series B that valued the company at **$1.3 billion.
The rapid doubling of the company’s valuation has attracted attention within the venture capital industry, particularly because several investors participated in both funding rounds, prompting discussion around the use of so-called “internal markups.”
Valuation doubles in three weeks
The latest funding follows a busy fundraising period for the company. Corgi announced a $108 million Series A just four months before its Series B, bringing its total disclosed fundraising to approximately $378 million, according to TechCrunch.
The Series B round was led by TCV, with participation from Kindred Ventures, Leblon Capital and First Order Fund. The subsequent Series B1 included returning investors Kindred Ventures and Leblon Capital, alongside Prime Capital, Alumni Ventures and Y Combinator.
Founded in 2024 by Emily Yuan and Nico Laqua, Corgi emerged from Y Combinator’s Spring 2024 cohort and counts companies including Deel and Artisan among its customers.
Debate over internal markups
The valuation increase has prompted discussion among limited partners (LPs)—including pension funds, endowments and family offices—that invest in venture capital funds.
When venture funds invest in successive financing rounds at higher valuations, they can increase the reported value of their existing holdings without a liquidity event such as an acquisition or initial public offering.
According to TechCrunch, one anonymous limited partner said there is “growing distrust of internal markups,” adding that when “a company [is] just getting re-priced upward with no real liquidity event, LPs notice.”
The concern is that paper gains can improve a fund’s reported performance before the valuation has been tested through a market transaction.
Investors cite business growth
Corgi’s investors maintain that the higher valuation reflects the company’s underlying performance rather than financial engineering.
Kindred Ventures partner Kanyi Maqubela told TechCrunch that revenue growth supported the increased valuation.
“LPs really like exits above all. They discount the value of markups since those aren’t always reflective of reality.”
Maqubela also said internal markups are not a concern for Kindred’s limited partners or Corgi’s other investors.
Expansion plans
Co-founder Nico Laqua said the company operates in a capital-intensive sector and that demand for its products has grown rapidly.
“Insurance is a highly capital-intensive industry.”
He added that “demand has accelerated quickly across new product lines and partnerships,” with investment also supporting development of the company’s AI-native underwriting platform.
Corgi offers general liability, cyber insurance and technology and AI liability coverage, targeting risks that it says are often excluded or ambiguously addressed by traditional insurance policies.
According to Laqua, the latest funding will be used to launch new insurance products, expand the underwriting platform, strengthen embedded distribution partnerships and hire additional staff.
Private market pricing under scrutiny
The funding highlights broader debate within venture capital over the difference between private market valuations and realised returns.
A private funding round represents a negotiated valuation between a company and its investors rather than a price established through public markets. Until a company is acquired or lists publicly, increases in valuation remain unrealised.
While some limited partners have expressed broader concerns about internal markups across the venture capital industry, there have been no allegations of wrongdoing relating to Corgi, whose investors continue to argue that the company’s revenue growth justifies its latest valuation.
