For most of its short life, Corgi has sold itself as the insurer you don’t need a middleman to buy from. Now it wants the middlemen on its side.
On Tuesday the San Francisco-based carrier named Josh LaRiccia head of distribution. LaRiccia co-founded First Insurance & Risk Management, and at Corgi he will build out its network of managing general agents, wholesale brokers and national retail firms across the US.
It’s a revealing hire for a company whose marketing has leaned hard on speed and self-service. A post on Corgi’s own website describes the platform as built to remove the broker from the buying process altogether. In January, when the startup landed carrier approval and $108 million in fresh funding, it presented its technology as an alternative to incumbents that depend on broker-led distribution, manual workflows and once-a-year renewals.
Ten months later, the calculus looks different.
LaRiccia, who describes himself on LinkedIn as having more than two decades in the business, comes from the opposite tradition to Corgi’s founders. In a recent interview, he said every co-founder at First Insurance had been a production underwriter or had run underwriting teams. The firm sold small commercial cover exclusively through independent agents and brokers.
The interview also shows how First Insurance approached speed. Its MyFirst platform covered roughly 250 class codes the team was comfortable writing. It used up to seven knockout questions to decide what qualified for straight-through processing. LaRiccia told the interviewer the approach delivered speed without watering down underwriting discipline. Corgi says that over four years he brought 15,000 users and 13,000 agencies onto the platform.
At Corgi he will run partner development, distribution strategy and national expansion, with a focus on MGA, wholesale and retail partners whose books match the carrier’s appetite. He will also work alongside the underwriting and product teams, looking for underserved markets where new programs could be built and channeling partner feedback back into product decisions.
Nico Laqua, Corgi’s co-founder and chief executive, said LaRiccia knows from experience what agents and brokers expect from the carriers they place business with. LaRiccia said Corgi has a chance “to rethink how carriers and distribution partners work together.”
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The hire makes more sense against how far Corgi has moved from where it started.
Founded in 2024 by Laqua and chief operating officer Emily Yuan, Corgi started out writing D&O, cyber, tech E&O and AI liability cover for venture-backed startups. Its fundraising has moved even faster than its product range. In early May, a $160 million Series B made it a unicorn at a $1.3 billion valuation. Three weeks later, a $106 million Series B1 led by TCV doubled the valuation to $2.6 billion. Forbes has since reported two further extensions, citing people familiar with the deals: one in July at about $4 billion, and a $64 million round in September at roughly $5 billion. Corgi has not formally announced either.
The bigger shift for brokers came in August, when Corgi launched an admitted carrier aimed at dry cleaners, salons and other small businesses. Corgi Insurance Company, Inc. has filed products for restaurants, retail stores, professional offices, self-storage facilities, and wholesalers and distributors. That is small commercial business of the kind LaRiccia spent the past four years writing through agents.
A seed-stage founder may happily buy D&O cover online in ten minutes. A restaurant owner or a self-storage operator is far more likely to buy through an independent agent who has handled the account for years. Reaching that customer means going through the channel Corgi once promised to bypass.
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Corgi is also entering a rapidly growing channel. US MGA premium reached $114.1 billion in 2024, according to Conning, and the firm’s broader estimate puts 2025 at around $128 billion. Established wholesalers and MGAs are adding leadership and buying brokerages to lock in agency relationships.
Partners weighing Corgi will want to look closely at its paper. Much of its startup business has been written through Technology Risk Retention Group. TRRG is an unrated Arizona RRG, reinsured by a captive inside Corgi’s own group, and that its policyholders have no state guaranty fund behind them. Corgi points out on its website that most US risk retention groups carry no AM Best rating. It also says that where admitted paper is required, it places business with partner carriers rated A- or better.
The new admitted carrier brings guaranty fund eligibility. But when Corgi launched it, the company did not say which states it is licensed in or whether it holds a financial-strength rating. Those two answers, along with commission terms and whether Corgi’s direct-to-startup channel will compete with its own partners, will likely decide how quickly LaRiccia’s phone starts ringing.
There is one more number brokers may want to read carefully. Corgi said in January that annualized revenue had passed $40 million. Insurtechs often report gross written premium under that label, which is not the same thing as recurring revenue.
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