Maximilian Thoelen
| Maximilian Thoelen | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, co-founder of Casey |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founding Casey, an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage |
| Education | Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University |
Maximilian Thoelen is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Casey, an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage backed by Y Combinator (Fall 2025 batch).[1] Casey's model pairs human producers focused on client relationships and closing business with artificial intelligence that handles operational workflows behind the scenes.[2]
Career
Before co-founding Casey, Thoelen served as Chief of Staff at grape insurance, described as Switzerland's leading insurtech scale-up. Prior to that role, he worked in deal advisory and private equity.[3] He studied at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University.
Thoelen co-founded Casey in 2025 alongside Nico Hänggi and Pascal Küng. The company entered Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch and is based in San Francisco. Casey positions itself as an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage, targeting a commercial insurance industry that the company describes as largely still reliant on email and PDF-based workflows. The company's first product is designed to be the fastest way for commercial insurance brokers to submit complex risks, automating form filling, document processing, and submission preparation to streamline the path from application to quote.
Casey's website states that the company finds "better coverage at lower prices, even for industries others won't touch," indicating a focus on hard-to-place commercial risks.[4]
In March 2026, Thoelen published an article through the Forbes Business Council titled "Why Technology Kept Failing In Insurance: What Actually Had To Change," in which he discussed the challenges of applying technology to insurance documentation and argued that AI capabilities had reached a point where they could match the complexity of the problem.[5]
He has also written about startup operations, publishing a March 2025 piece on Medium arguing that operators are a critical but often underappreciated role in early-stage companies.
References
- ↑ "Casey – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Casey". 'Casey}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Maximilian Thoelen – Co-Founder, Casey". 'Forbes Councils}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Casey – Business Insurance, Made Easy". 'Casey}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Why Technology Kept Failing In Insurance: What Actually Had To Change". 'Forbes}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.