Nico Laqua

Who they are

Nico Laqua is CEO and co-founder of Corgi Insurance — previously built Basket Entertainment, a gaming publisher that reached 200 million users, before pivoting to found an AI-native insurance carrier that hit a $2.6B valuation within two years.

Person

Nico co-founded Corgi Insurance in 2024, raising $100M pre-revenue before the company had written a single policy — an extreme bet that paid off fast. Before insurance, he co-founded Basket Entertainment, a gaming publisher that reached 200 million users, alongside Emily Yuan, who is now his co-founder at Corgi. He studied Neuroscience at Columbia University as a Rabi Scholar, where he also ran computational biology experiments with Nobel Laureate Hamilton Smith — a scientific grounding that sits oddly but coherently behind someone rebuilding insurance infrastructure with AI. The through-line is building at scale in industries he has no obvious prior claim to, and doing it faster than incumbents think possible. He's vocal across LinkedIn and X (@nico_laqua), posting on AI-native insurance, startup culture, and fundraising; he's appeared on 20VC, Venture with Grace, and The Insurer, where he declared he wants to build 'the most important company in the world.' Possibly — the extreme work ethic (sleeping on a mattress in the office, 7-day weeks, 3-hour nights) is as much a public brand positioning as it is a personal operating style.

Company

Corgi's most recent move is its June 2026 announcement that it will open its regulatory and claims infrastructure to rival insurance carriers — a platform play that would turn a competitor's moat into a shared utility. That followed a sprint of fundraising: a $160M Series B at a $1.3B valuation on May 6, 2026, and then a $106M Series B1 led by TCV just three weeks later that doubled the valuation to $2.6B, bringing total funding to $378M. The company reported achieving profitability in April 2026 with $40M+ ARR, run by a 30-person team operating a fully regulated carrier. Corgi is now expanding beyond its startup-focused core into trucking, small business, and sports insurance, and counts Deel and Artisan among its customers.

Market

Corgi competes in AI-driven commercial insurtech against Vouch (its most direct rival, also YC-backed), Coalition, At-Bay, Next Insurance, and Lemonade — a crowded field where the full-stack carrier model is the differentiator, since most players still rely on third-party underwriting capacity. Investor appetite for AI-native insurance infrastructure is intense right now, and Corgi's move to open its regulatory and claims rails to rivals signals ambition to be the underlying platform layer, not just another carrier.

Network

Nico's closest working relationship is with Emily Yuan, Corgi's co-founder and COO, who co-founded Basket Entertainment with him and has co-presented at nearly every major fundraising and media appearance. Inside Corgi, Johannes 'Joe' Els heads portfolio risk and Doug Keys brings 40+ years of underwriting experience. His academic network stretches back to Columbia, where he worked with Nobel Laureate Hamilton Smith on computational biology.

Emily Yuan· Co-founder and COO, Corgi Insurance
Johannes 'Joe' Els· Head of Portfolio Risk, Corgi Insurance
Michael Davis· Head of Product, Corgi Insurance
Hamilton Smith· Nobel Laureate, former research collaborator at Columbia University

How they likely show up

Founded Corgi in 2024 and raised $378M total by May 2026 → operates with extreme urgency; compresses timelines that others treat as multi-year arcs.
Sleeps on a mattress in the office and works 7 days a week (publicly documented in Business Insider and 20VC) → treats physical availability as a signal of commitment, not just a personal quirk — expect this ethos to pervade the team culture he's built.
Active on both LinkedIn and X, appears on 20VC, Venture with Grace, and The Insurer → comfortable being very public, uses media as a deliberate tool for recruiting, brand, and investor signaling.
Co-founded two companies (Basket Entertainment and Corgi) with the same co-founder, Emily Yuan → high-trust, repeat-collaborator model; he bets on people he already knows.
Neuroscience degree from Columbia, ran computational biology experiments with a Nobel Laureate, then built a 200M-user gaming publisher, now rebuilding insurance infrastructure → pattern is applying rigorous technical thinking to domains others treat as low-tech.
Possibly — announcing that Corgi will open its infrastructure to rival carriers suggests he thinks in platform terms, not just product terms, even at a very early stage.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific media moment — the 20VC episode on 'The Most Intense Workplace Culture in America' or The Insurer interview where he said he wants to build 'the most important company in the world' — he'll know you've done the work.
→ Don't treat the work-culture story as a gimmick or a stunt; it's clearly a core part of his identity and how he recruits — engage with it on its own terms.
→ Ask about the infrastructure-opening announcement (June 2026) — it's the most forward-looking strategic move in the public record and he'll have a strong point of view on why a carrier would open its rails to rivals.
→ He thinks in scale and speed; come with specific numbers or concrete comparisons rather than general praise about the insurance space.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the June 2026 announcement that Corgi will open its regulatory and claims infrastructure to rival carriers — it's a sharp strategic pivot from competitor to platform, and he'll want to explain the reasoning.
Mention Basket Entertainment reaching 200 million users — he and Emily Yuan built that together before pivoting to insurance, and it's the credibility foundation that made pre-revenue fundraising possible.
Bring up Corgi Cafe, the 24-hour coffee shop at 9 Claude Lane in San Francisco — it's a tangible expression of the company's culture and a concrete detail that shows you know more than the funding headlines.

Discovery questions

You raised $100M pre-revenue and got to $40M+ ARR with a 30-person team — at what point did the underwriting model actually click, and what had to be true before you'd take on that capital?
Opening Corgi's regulatory and claims infrastructure to rival carriers is a big call for a two-year-old company — what's the theory on why that accelerates Corgi's position rather than commoditizing it?
The Basket Entertainment to Corgi Insurance transition is a big domain jump — what did 200 million gaming users actually teach you about underwriting startup risk?

Avoid

Don't frame the 7-days-a-week, sleep-in-the-office culture as reckless or unsustainable — he's spoken about it extensively and deliberately; treating it as a red flag rather than a stated philosophy will close the conversation down fast.

Make it yours