Cowbell business insurance

Overview

Cowbell is a managing general agent, not an insurance company. It designs and underwrites cyber policies under authority granted by insurers, and those insurers issue the policies and carry the risk. Its own product pages name the paper: the admitted Prime 100 policy is issued by Palomar Specialty Insurance Company, the mid-market Prime 250 by Palomar Specialty and Chaucer Insurance Company, and the newer Prime One by Chaucer on a non-admitted basis. Its management liability package is written on Zurich North America admitted paper. Cowbell's U.S. agency, Cowbell Insurance Agency LLC, holds producer licenses and surplus lines broker licenses in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The MGA model drives how Cowbell is paid. Like other MGAs, it earns a commission from the issuing insurers for underwriting and administering the business, and the retail agent who sells you the policy earns a commission too; both are built into the premium. Cowbell also sells security services such as managed detection and response separately. It does not publish its revenue or premium volume.

Cowbell sells only through agents and brokers. It says more than 21,000 agents and brokers across the U.S. are appointed with it, and its site has a find-an-agent directory by state. The company was founded in 2019 and is based in Pleasanton, California, with U.S. offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, New York, Omaha and Philadelphia, plus London, Sydney, Toronto and a development center in Pune, India.

History

Jack Kudale founded Cowbell in 2019 with co-founders Trent Cooksley (now chief operating officer) and Rajeev Gupta (chief product officer). The pitch from the start was "continuous underwriting": scoring every applicant and policyholder against outside-in data so risk is reassessed through the policy term, not once at renewal. Cowbell calls those scores Cowbell Factors.

In July 2024 Cowbell closed a $60 million Series C equity investment from Zurich Insurance Group, to fund growth, international expansion, new products and its security services. Zurich is also Cowbell's partner on a management liability product for small private companies. Cowbell has since expanded abroad: it operates in the UK, launched in Australia in February 2026 with Zurich backing, and in January 2026 named Simon Hughes chief commercial officer. In April 2026 it launched Prime One in the U.S., a non-admitted cyber product for larger mid-market companies with affirmative wording for AI-related incidents and quantum computing risks. Cowbell has also rolled out an AI decision system it calls OMNI and AI "Risk Advisors" for policyholders.

Business insurance products

Cowbell's product line is sized by revenue band, which makes it easy for an agent to tell which form you will get.

• Prime 100 — admitted, standalone cyber for businesses with up to $100 million in revenue, aimed at first-time buyers and those outgrowing the cyber endorsement on a BOP. Agents can quote, bind and issue it in under five minutes. Paper: Palomar Specialty Insurance Company, which Cowbell describes as AM Best A (Excellent).
• Prime 250 — non-admitted standalone cyber for businesses with $100 million to $1 billion in revenue, covering ransomware, extortion, business interruption and data breach. Paper: Palomar Specialty and Chaucer. Available in all 50 states and D.C. on surplus lines paper. Activating a security connector earns a 5% premium credit.
• Prime One — non-admitted cyber for organizations with $250 million to $1 billion in revenue and limits up to $10 million, with cyber crime (social engineering and fraudulent transfers), business and contingent business interruption, data restoration, biometric data exposure and cyber-enabled tangible property loss. Paper: Chaucer Insurance Company. An MDR endorsement cuts the retention by $25,000 on certain coverages for policyholders using Cowbell's managed detection service.
• Prime Plus — follow-form excess cyber for businesses up to $1 billion in revenue, limits up to $5 million.
• Prime Tech — combined technology E&O and cyber for tech companies up to $1 billion in revenue, limits up to $5 million, non-admitted.
• Management liability — a modular package of private company D&O, employment practices, fiduciary liability and crime for small and midsize private companies, on Zurich admitted paper with Zurich handling claims.

Policies come with Cowbell Factors risk ratings, security awareness training and access to Cowbell Resiliency Services. The issuing carrier for your Prime policy will appear on the declarations page; read it, because the policy's financial backing is that insurer's, not Cowbell's.

Who it insures

Small and lower mid-market businesses are the core. The Prime 100 page lists accounting firms, contractors, dental offices, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, insurance agencies, law firms, manufacturers, medical offices, nonprofits, retailers, truckers and wholesalers. Prime 250 adds classes such as cleaning, pest control, K-12 education, commercial banks and public administration. Prime Tech targets SaaS, IT consulting, data center, app developer and software businesses (see Software and SaaS company insurance and IT consultant and MSP insurance).

Prime Plus publishes an exclusion list that gives a sense of appetite: crypto, cannabis, online trading, online gambling, social networks, crowdfunding, politically affiliated organizations, adult websites and data aggregators are out.

How to buy

Through a licensed agent or broker. Cowbell does not quote business owners directly; its site sends buyers to the agent directory. Agents use Cowbell's online platform or API to quote and bind. Premiums can be agency billed (your agent collects) or direct billed by Cowbell, which accepts ACH, card and check and offers premium financing through its partner Xpress Capital. Endorsements and cancellations go through your agent to Cowbell's service team.

Expect the application to be short for Prime 100 and longer as revenue rises. Your external scan results feed the price, so fixing exposed remote access and enabling multi-factor authentication before you apply can matter (see MFA, EDR and backups: the controls cyber insurers now require).

Claims

Cowbell runs claims in house for its cyber products, with an incident response panel of breach counsel, forensic firms and recovery specialists. Report an incident by calling 833-633-8666 or emailing [email protected]; Cowbell says it acknowledges a reported incident within an hour and that its team will help even if you are not sure you have a claim. Have your policy number, the date you noticed the problem, what happened and a single internal contact ready. Cowbell reports a 65% reduction in ransom demands through negotiation. Claims under the Zurich management liability package are handled by Zurich. See what happens when you file a cyber claim and ransomware and cyber insurance: how claims work.

Financial strength and ratings

As an MGA, Cowbell has no financial strength rating of its own. The ratings that matter belong to the issuing insurers. Cowbell's product pages describe Palomar Specialty Insurance Company as rated A (Excellent) by AM Best; Palomar's profile records AM Best's A (Excellent) rating with a stable outlook as of September 2025. Cowbell's April 2026 release says Chaucer Insurance Company holds AM Best A (Excellent) and S&P A (Strong) ratings. Zurich American, which issues the management liability product, is part of Zurich, rated A+ (Superior) by AM Best as of March 2025.

The thing to watch with any MGA is the continuity of its capacity. If an insurer ends its arrangement, the MGA moves its book to new paper, and your renewal may be on a different insurer's form. Check the carrier at each renewal.

Strengths and weaknesses

Cowbell gives agents a fast, broad set of cyber forms sorted by business size, from an admitted small-business policy to excess and mid-market wording, with Zurich as an investor and partner. Its limits are those of an MGA: the risk sits with Palomar, Chaucer or Zurich, and terms can change if capacity moves.

• Strengths: Admitted Prime 100 for small businesses that prefer admitted paper; quote-to-issue in minutes through agents; products for up to $1 billion in revenue and limits to $10 million; in-house cyber claims with a one-hour acknowledgment target; Zurich investment and partnership.
• Weaknesses: Not an insurer, so policy security depends on the issuing carrier; no direct purchase for business owners; non-admitted paper on most mid-market products, with no state guaranty fund backing; no published financials.

How to contact Cowbell