Cowbell

Cowbell (also known as Cowbell Cyber) is a startup aiming to simplify and expedite the process of obtaining accurate cyber insurance coverage for SME businesses by using AI to map insurable threats to the type of exposures. Cowbell's closed-loop tailored insurance offering comes as part of a bundle, which includes awareness training, a proactive continuous risk assessment, and pre-/post-breach services.

Cowbell Cyber maps insurable threats and risk exposures using artificial intelligence against a scoring index - the 'Cowbell Factor'. Its continuous underwriting platform aligns insurable threats to risk exposures to identify cyber risks and proactively mitigate losses in the aftermath of cyberattacks.

In 2019, it was revealed that Cowbell would be joining 9 early-stage companies for the 5th Annual Global Insurance Accelerator. Held in Des Moines, Iowa, the 100-day program sees startups collaborating with insurance company mentors to move their product to the demonstration stage.

In September 2019 Cowbell raised $3.3m in Seed funding from ManchesterStory Group,Global Insurance Accelerator and more. The money will be used to accelerator the go-to-market plan and development of its insurance platform.

In January 2020 the company announced the launch of Cowbell Prime 100, a tool that will enable insurance agents to issue personalised cyber policies with limits up to $5m.

In September 2020, Cowbell launched a new standalone cyber insurance product, Prime 250, which aims to address the diversity of incidents that fall under the term 'Cyber'. The new product is offered in partnership with Benchmark Insurance Company and Obsidian Insurance Company.

Cowbell Cyber announced it had expanded in December 2020, offering its AI-powered SMB cyber insurance across 31 states. The startup said the move was in part down to the surge in cyber crime, ransomware and social engineering attacks in 2020, as more people work remotely.

In March 2020 Cowbell Cyber raised a $20m Series A round to scale its team and footprint, and fund further product development.

In August 2021 Cowbell Cyber announced the launch of APIs to digitally distribute cyber insurance, focusing particularly on SMEs. Its APIs will allow insurance digital aggregators to directly integrate to Cowbell's platform and also enable instant quoting. The company stated its new APIs will bring "instant quotes, issuance, and policy delivery" to the thousands of agents in its network.

In January 2022 Cowbell Cyber launched a new captive, Cowbell Re, to provide additional capacity for its AI cyber insurance product after demand for cyber insurance continues to soar after Covid-19. In 2021 the company saw some impressive growth figures, reaching $200M in premium run-rate and the company has now revealed it expects to triple its policyholders this year.

In March 2022 Cowbell raised $100m in Series B funding to continue development on its data science and risk engineering, and its reinsurance business. It will also expand its go-to-market channels.

In January 2023 Cowbell launched the Cowbell Academy, an eLearning centre for agents and brokers on cyber insurance. The academy provides general insight into cyber insurance, knowledge assessments, and product-specific classes. It aims to help 48% of brokers and agents who feel uncomfortable explaining cyber insurance to end-customers, as well as increase awareness and accessibility of SME-specific cyber insurance products.

Later in April 2023, Cowbell launched its UK operations. It also introduced a new group of capabilities called MooGPT, which utilises large language models and proprietary data. MooGPT reinforcement learning techniques to offer real-time conversational experiences to appointed agents and active policyholders.

During June 2023 the company partnered with P&C insurer, Skyward Specialty Insurance Group. The partnership expanded Cowbell’s coverage and capacity of its Prime 250 Cyber Liability and Prime Tech, an insurance program that safeguards businesses generating revenue of up to $500m against cyber and technology errors and omissions (E&O) risks. It also gives Cowbell access to Skyward Specialty’s key industry partners to strengthen its capacity to deliver coverage to meet evolving market needs.

In July it partnered with digital platform, Embroker, which works to simplify business insurance. Emboker wants to expand its cyber liability coverage by offering Cowbell Cyber insurance to existing and new customers. 

In January 2024 Cowbell Cyber extended its coverage to UK-based mid-market businesses, enabling those with an annual turnover of up to £1bn to get coverage through its Cowbell Prime One programme.