Is Corgi getting into banking?
Based on information obtained by Coverager, it appears that insurance startup Corgi is working on a banking offering.
A public documentation site at docs.dev.bank.corgi.com, which needs no login, describes the Corgi Bank API, a core banking system covering checking and savings accounts, debit cards and ATMs, ACH, wires and instant payments, business loans, and mortgages.
The documentation includes pieces only a chartered bank would use, like a Federal Reserve master account, regulatory Call Reports, and FDIC deposit-insurance calculations. It also lists a production address, api.bank.corgi.com, which isn’t live yet.
Corgi hasn’t announced any banking plans, but the company often describes itself as an “AI financial infrastructure company.”
Getting a bank charter from scratch is a difficult, expensive, and time-consuming process. As an example, SoFi tried to get a bank charter for years before they ended up buying a small community bank in California. Another example is banking startup Chime, which announced a $590 million cash deal to acquire its longtime banking partner Stride Bank.
According to Crunchbase data, Corgi raised ~$440 million from investors. In a LinkedIn post from yesterday that includes a video interview with Corgi co-founder Emily Yuan, it was stated that Corgi has almost $300 million in the bank. That’s a high burn rate, despite spending ~$30 million to acquire an insurance carrier and having over 350 employees.
Of the 373 people who list Corgi on LinkedIn, about 7 in 10 joined within the past year, and the median tenure is under five months.
Engineering roles make up 8% of the total headcount. In addition, a recent report by Business Insider suggests that the majority of Corgi employees are young, with many 18-21 year olds.
Beyond insurance, Corgi “supports” Bulldog Trial Lawyers, a plaintiff-side employment law firm. It offers ETFs. It runs coffee shops (the company acquired a commercial building in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood for ~$11 million). And it’s also getting into the compute business.
