# Chi Lee

> Chi Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Arqu, a San Francisco wholesale insurance brokerage that uses proprietary technology and structured data to help brokers pre-underwrite complex commercial risks. His career moved through equity research at Morgan Stanley, investing at Citadel, data and strategy work at Lyft, and autonomous-vehicle business development before he co-founded Arqu in 2020.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Arqu
- **Organizations:** Arqu, Lyft, Citadel LLC, Morgan Stanley, PVH Corp., Fifth & Pacific Companies
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurial Studies/Business Administration, University of Southern California
- **Known for:** Co-founded Arqu, a technology-enabled wholesale insurance brokerage for complex commercial risks., Raised a $10 million Series A for Arqu in 2024, led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Intact Ventures and existing investors., Expanded Arqu's focus from construction toward real estate, energy and environmental risks.

## Career timeline

- **2000-2003** — Worked as a junior associate at Morgan Stanley.
- **2003-2006** — Worked in business operations and finance at PVH Corp. and Fifth & Pacific Companies.
- **2006-2008** — Returned to Morgan Stanley as a senior associate.
- **2008-2011** — Served as vice president and lead equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley.
- **2011-2015** — Worked as a senior analyst at Citadel LLC.
- **2016** — Joined Lyft as head of emerging business, data science, then became director of strategy.
- **2017-2019** — Served as Lyft's senior director and head of business development for autonomous vehicles.
- **2020** — Co-founded Arqu and became CEO.
- **2021** — Arqu reported a $3.5 million seed round; Lee signed the company's October 2021 Form D as CEO.
- **2024** — Arqu raised a $10 million Series A led by Crosslink Capital, bringing reported total funding to $13.5 million.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Arqu, a technology-enabled wholesale insurance brokerage for complex commercial risks.
- Raised a $10 million Series A for Arqu in 2024, led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Intact Ventures and existing investors.
- Expanded Arqu's focus from construction toward real estate, energy and environmental risks.
- Led business development for autonomous vehicles at Lyft after holding data-science and strategy roles there.
- Built a career spanning equity research, investment analysis, technology strategy and insurance operations.

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — Arqu closed a $10 million Series A led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Intact Ventures and continued backing from Lightspeed, Foxe Capital and Nationwide Ventures.
- **2024-09** — Arqu announced plans to accelerate product development and expand beyond construction into real estate, energy and environmental risk.
- **2023-10** — Lee described Arqu's expansion into environmental risk and reiterated its goal of becoming a strong pre-underwriting partner.

## Links

- Website: https://arqu.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chihleepublic

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/chi-lee
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18