There's growth, and there's growth that makes you rub your eyes. The startup Corgi, which sells insurance with the help of artificial intelligence, has just closed a new funding round at a valuation of 4 billion dollars (about 3.7 billion euros). That's the third money-raise in just eight weeks. Not eight months - eight weeks.

The trajectory is almost comical when written out in order. In January the firm raised 108 million dollars at a valuation of around 630 million. By early May - 160 million at 1.3 billion. Three weeks later - another 106 million, this time at 2.6 billion. And now, 4 billion. Each round almost doubles the last, and between them there's barely time to print a business card.

What's behind the numbers? Revenue, the founders say. When they announced the first round seven months ago, they spoke of 40 million dollars in annual revenue. Now, according to sources, the firm is heading toward 450 million dollars by year's end. If that's correct, the growth is real - but in the era of the AI frenzy, the word “if” carries great weight, because valuation is written faster than the money arrives.

Here it's worth pausing on a detail that rarely makes the headlines. Corgi operates through a structure called a risk-retention group - a model where firms from the same branch insure one another. Unlike classic insurance companies, such groups aren't subject to the same state rules and have no state fund covering them. If the claims exceed the shared money, the members bear the loss themselves. In other words: when things get hard, there's no one to cover your back except the neighbour who's paying too.

And finally, a detail that says a lot about the spirit of the times: alongside the insurance, Corgi has also opened two cafés open 24 hours in San Francisco and Atlanta, with plans for New York and London. An insurance firm worth four billion that runs late-night cafés - maybe that is exactly the picture of this decade in tech. Money everywhere, and no one's asking yet how much.