Mandl’s Portfolio Includes AI-native Insurer Nirvana, AI-native Claims Administrator Vega, and AI Operations Platform Cooper; Announcement Made as Industry Convenes at Target Markets TMPAA Summit 2026
SAN FRANCISCO and SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mandl, a new AI company, launched today to rebuild the full engine of commercial insurance from the inside out and, with it, advance economic ambition and abundance. The announcement was made by former Samsara (NYSE: IOT) executive and Mandl CEO Rushil Goel at the 2026 Target Markets TMPAA Summit, a flagship annual gathering of program administrators and managing general agents (MGAs).
“Insurance is the quiet force that lets ambition outrun risk, and there’s an incredible opportunity to rebuild it for the millions of businesses that depend on it,” said Rushil Goel, founder and CEO of Mandl. “We’ve already proven that an AI-native model works across underwriting, claims, and operations to improve how businesses price risk, recover from losses, and get coverage that fits. Launching Mandl is the natural next step.”
Mandl will expand across more of the commercial insurance value chain in two ways: by building new AI-native companies, as it did with Vega and Cooper, and by acquiring companies that share its vision and have proven they can innovate. Every Mandl company operates as an independent business, with the backing to grow faster than it could alone.
Before founding Mandl, Goel cofounded Nirvana, the AI-native commercial insurer that has now grown to more than $300 million in run-rate premium with top-tier loss ratio performance; he previously led Samsara’s Connected Fleets platform, scaling it from the ground up to more than $500 million in annual revenue.
“Building on Nirvana’s success and original innovation, we created and launched Vega to reimagine claims with AI, and are already delivering cycle times four times faster than the industry standard. Similarly, we created and launched Cooper to bring an AI-native operations platform to the market, with a mission to make every insurance professional extraordinary,” Goel added.
Alongside the launch, Jon Hammer, previously general manager at Nirvana, has been named Nirvana’s CEO. He leads the company with cofounder and Chief Actuary Alex Carges, while Goel remains closely involved as chairman of Nirvana.
“Commercial insurance still prices most businesses by category and averages, the same way it has for decades,” said Jon Hammer, CEO of Nirvana. “We built Nirvana to understand risk better than anyone else, so every business pays for how it actually operates. Put simply, the best operators should pay the least, and with Nirvana, they finally can.”
“Actuarial work has always been about turning uncertainty into a price,” said Alex Carges, cofounder and Chief Actuary of Nirvana. “The data and models we’ve built at Nirvana let us do that with a precision the industry hasn’t had before. That’s what lets us say yes to good businesses that traditional underwriting would turn away.”
“Businesses don’t buy insurance for the policy, they buy it for the moment something goes wrong,” said Talha Zubair, cofounder and CEO of Vega. “Vega makes that moment fast and fair, resolving claims in a fraction of the time legacy administrators take. As part of Mandl, we can finally make that the standard across the industry.”
“Insurance professionals lose hours every day to work that AI should handle,” said Akhilesh Koppineni, cofounder and CEO of Cooper. “Cooper gives those hours back, so agencies, brokerages, MGAs, and carriers can focus on their clients and on growing their business. Every customer that runs on Cooper is proof the industry is ready to work differently.”
Mandl expects to share more about its growth in the coming months and is hiring across technology, finance, strategy, and operations roles. To learn more, visit www.mandl.ai.
About Mandl
Mandl is an AI company advancing economic ambition and abundance by rebuilding commercial insurance from the inside out. Its operating companies are Nirvana, an AI-native insurer; Vega, an AI-native claims administrator; and Cooper, an AI operations platform for agencies, brokerages, MGAs, and carriers. Mandl is backed by General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Valor Equity Partners and is headquartered in San Francisco.
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