RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Business Insider — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sourcesAlibaba cofounder Jack Ma. Wang HE/Getty Images
Jack Ma's private equity firm, Yunfeng Capital, quietly led Corgi's latest funding round.
Corgi, a San Francisco AI insurance startup, saw its valuation quadruple over the last few months.
Corgi marks Yunfeng's first known US deal, as it mostly touts Chinese investments.
Jack is back.
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's private equity firm secretly led the latest funding round for Corgi , marking the first time the firm is known to have invested in a startup founded in the US.
Yunfeng Capital, co-founded by Jack Ma and businessman David Yu, funded Corgi with about $30 million, according to a source familiar with the matter and correspondence seen by Business Insider. That round valued Corgi at $4 billion, Forbes previously reported last month .
Corgi is an AI business insurance startup that was part of Y Combinator's summer 2024 cohort. It's one of the hottest startups in San Francisco, with its valuation almost quadrupling over the last three months. It's best-known for operating a 24-hour café in San Francisco and touting a 7-day workweek .
Corgi and Yunfeng Capital didn't respond to requests for comment. Ma's charitable foundation and Alibaba also didn't respond.
Geopolitical tensions between Washington, D.C., and Beijing have made cross-border tech investment increasingly fraught.
Publicly, Yunfeng Capital largely touts Chinese companies in its portfolio.
It's also a rare overseas bet from Ma, who has kept a much lower profile in recent years. The Alibaba cofounder disappeared from public view after criticizing Chinese regulators in 2020. Last year, Ma reemerged in China as the country's government embraces AI.
China has exerted greater control over outbound capital and technology, for example, ordering Meta to unwind its acquisition of AI agent startup Manus .
The US has also tightened scrutiny of Chinese investment through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Prior to the tensions, Alibaba actively invested in US companies, including Lyft in 2014 and Magic Leap in 2016. Ma stepped down as Alibaba's chairman in 2019.
Have a tip? Contact Charles via email at [email protected] or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811 . Contact Ben via email at [email protected] or on Signal at @BenBergman.11. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely .
Read the original article on Business Insider
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.