Lula ran frugal through the 2021 peak, then raised $35.5M in weeks at 5x valuation

Lula builds insurance software that helps businesses manage risk, claims, policies and coverage, starting with rental cars, trucking and logistics.

Deliberate frugality through the froth — below-market salaries, tight unit economics — would let Lula raise its Series B fast and at a premium once the market turned.

$18M Series A in 2021; $35.5M Series B in 2023 co-led by NextView Ventures and Khosla Ventures, with Founders Fund participating.

Twins Michael and Matthew Vega-Sanz started Lula in early 2020 in Miami as an insurance API meant to spare companies building their own insurance infrastructure; the offering grew into a broader insurance platform.

Customers grew from 99 businesses in February 2022 to nearly 4,000 by July 2023 and monthly revenue multiplied 20 times over that span, the company told TechCrunch; a May 2023 trucking product let carriers pay for coverage only on days their trucks were actually on the road.

Lula read the 2021–22 market as a peak and chose to be able to raise after the fall, not during the froth.

Insurance software for business buyers had barely moved in decades — investor Lee Hower noted 'there aren't 20 other companies doing exactly what they're doing.'

Usage-based trucking coverage attacked a costly industry default: a year of premiums for a fraction of a year on the road.

Frugality doubled as recruiting: senior hires valued avoiding a down round or layoffs more than peak-market pay.

Cutting burn one market cycle early converts fear into leverage: the frugality that looks stingy at the peak becomes proof of discipline when every competitor needs a lifeline.

As of August 3, 2023, the 115-person company planned to push beyond rental cars and trucking into logistics and embedded insurance, targeting profitability within a couple of quarters and $100 million ARR in three to four quarters.