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Valgo

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Insurance risk layer for physical AI

Winter 2026Founded 20253 peopleSan Francisco, CA, USA
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AI insightcan contain mistakes
Autonomous Vehicle Risk ModelingAPI/InfraInsurance and fleet companiesLow competition
Moat
Proprietary probabilistic modeling and route/task/environment simulation are defensible.
Key risk
Insurance pricing may require regulatory approval; model accuracy depends on real autonomous data.
Why now
Autonomous truck and robot deployments are accelerating, creating urgent insurance pricing demand.
Competitors
Emerging space, traditional actuarial firms

About

Insurers struggle to price autonomous systems because the historical data simply doesn't exist. Your car insurance draws from over 30 billion claims records, but autonomous trucks and robots have nearly zero. Valgo is the risk quantification platform that closes that gap. We are building probabilistic models of routes, tasks, and environments from the bottom up. We output a simulated loss estimate that insurers need to price coverage. Valgo is the foundational layer that gives insurance providers confidence to properly price autonomy risk. Our team combines expertise in risk estimation for autonomy with deep experience in the insurance industry. Sydney and Robert are Stanford PhDs with leading expertise in safety of physical AI systems. Sydney wrote the textbook on validating safety-critical systems and teaches the course at Stanford. Robert spent 7 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the core team that designed and validated an FAA-certified aircraft collision avoidance system, now a worldwide standard. Jon is a Sloan Fellow from the Stanford GSB and an actuary who spent over 12 years in insurance leadership and led over $5 billion in M&A as head of corporate development for one of the largest insurers in Asia-Pacific.

Founders ยท 3

Robert Moss
Robert MossCo-Founder and CEO
MITStanford

Stanford CS PhD with thesis on algorithms to validate safety-critical systems. Former research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the core team that designed and validated the aircraft collision avoidance system (ACAS X), now a worldwide standard. Other relevant experience working at Xwing (an autonomous aircraft startup now part of Joby Aviation), and NASA Ames Research Center.

Sydney Katz
Sydney KatzCo-Founder and CTO
MITStanford

Stanford Aero/Astro PhD with thesis on safe machine learning. Author of "Algorithms for Validation" textbook. Lecturer for "Validation of Safety-Critical Systems" course at Stanford. Industry experience at Reliable Robotics, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and NASA.

Jon Qian
Jon QianCo-founder and President
Stanford

Stanford GSB Sloan Fellow. 12+ years in leadership positions for one of the largest insurer in Asia-Pacific. Responsible for over $5 billion in insurance company mergers and acquisitions.

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