Corgi announces $106M raise at $2.6B valuation - triple what it was worth three weeks ago | TechCrunch

Corgi, an insurance technology company serving startups in areas like tech, cyber, and general liability, announced a $106 million Series B1 round valuing it at $2.6 billion. The raise came three weeks after a $160 million Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation and four months after a $108 million Series A. The rapid valuation increase raised questions because the investor set was the same across rounds. An investor attributed the jump to company momentum, while an LP expressed growing distrust of internal markups and repricing without real liquidity events. The concern is that short-interval valuation markups can make portfolio performance appear stronger than underlying business fundamentals. Another investor said LPs prefer exits and that revenue growth supported the new valuation.

"Asked what material event justified that kind of jump in such a short window, investor Kanyi Macqubela of Kindred Ventures cited the company's momentum. It's an explanation may satisfy some, but the practice more generally is starting to attract scrutiny in LP circles. "There's growing distrust of internal markups," said one LP who backs numerous venture funds and asked not to be named. Said this person of exit mechanisms specifically, "[I]f a company [is] just getting re-priced upward with no real liquidity event, LPs notice.""

"The specific concern is that a fund that invests at one valuation then marks it up three weeks later can make portfolio performance look stronger on paper than the underlying business may justify. In this case, Macqubela suggested, that's not an issue for Kindred's limited partners, nor for Corgi's other investors, which include Prime Capital, Leblon Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Y Combinator."

""LPs really like exits above all," Macqubela said in a message to TechCrunch. "They discount the value of markups since those aren't always reflective of reality." He added that in this case, revenue growth rationalized the new round."

"Insurance tech Corgi on Thursday announced a $106 million Series B1 raise, valuing the company at $2.6 billion, just three weeks after announcing a $160 million Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation and four months after its $108 million Series A. The company offers insurance, working specifically with startups in areas like tech, cyber, and general liability; it counts Deel and Artisan among its customers."

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