Cowbell vs Founder Shield Cyber Insurance

Cowbell operates as an insurance agency that markets its own named 'Prime' cyber product line, rather than distributing another carrier's off-the-shelf policy under its own brand. ^4,6,7Company-reported. Product overview PDFs for Prime 100, Prime 100 Pro, Prime 250, Prime One and Prime Plus.

Founder Shield is a retail insurance brokerage, described on its site as “the innovation arm of The Baldwin Group,” and places Founder Shield Cyber Liability Insurance with third-party carriers rather than underwriting the policy itself. ¹⁵Company-reported. About-us page; applies to Founder Shield's brokerage model generally, restated here for this line.

Cowbell says Prime 100 and Prime 100 Pro paper is provided by Palomar Specialty Insurance Company (AM Best A rating), Prime 250 by Palomar Specialty Insurance Company and Chaucer Insurance Company, and Prime One by Chaucer Specialty Insurance Company; the insurer therefore varies by which Prime product is placed. ^4,6,7Company-reported. Footer/underwriting statements in each product PDF.

Founder Shield says it places policies, including Founder Shield Cyber Liability Insurance, only with carriers rated A- or better by AM Best, chosen for the client's industry. It does not name the issuing insurer for this line; that depends on which carrier the policy is placed with. ¹¹Company-reported. General carrier-selection FAQ, not specific to this line's placements.

Cowbell markets Prime 100 (admitted) to SMEs with up to $100M in revenue, Prime 100 Pro (admitted, available in 47 states) to a similar SME band with broader endorsements, Prime 250 (non-admitted) to businesses up to $1B in revenue, and Prime One (non-admitted) to organizations with more advanced digital exposure, typically $250M+ in annual revenue. ^4,5,6,7Company-reported. Risk Appetite sections of each PDF.

Founder Shield calls cyber coverage a priority for healthcare, financial services, SaaS and e-commerce companies, citing their exposure to data breaches and business interruption. ¹⁴Company-reported. Cyber Liability product page.

Base Prime 100 coverages include security breach liability, social engineering, hardware replacement, business income and extra expense, extortion threats, computer and funds transfer fraud, and restoration of electronic data; Prime One adds affirmative AI-incident and quantum-computing-incident coverage for more advanced digital exposures. ^4,7Company-reported. Prime 100 Coverages and Prime One 'Emerging risk coverage' sections; illustrative, subject to the issued policy's terms.

Founder Shield lists loss or damage to electronic data, income loss and extra expense from a system outage, cyber extortion payments, and breach-notification and reputation-management costs as the branches of cyber coverage it places. ¹⁴Company-reported. Product page; the issued policy and declarations control actual coverage.

Founder Shield says cyber policies typically exclude loss of value from stolen IP, internal technology system upgrades, and possible future lost profits. ¹⁴Company-reported. Product page; specific exclusions depend on the issued policy.

Cowbell states Prime 100 Pro adds endorsements with limits up to $3M, Prime One offers limits up to $10M for select risks, and Prime Plus is an excess layer offering up to $5M above a primary cyber policy; base Prime 100 and Prime 250 limit figures are not published in the reviewed PDFs. ^5,7,8Company-reported. Product overview PDFs; actual issued limits depend on underwriting.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Cowbell says every Prime policy includes Cowbell Factors risk ratings, Cowbell Resiliency Services, Cowbell Insights guidance, Cowbell Connectors integrations with cloud/security providers, and complimentary Wizer cybersecurity-awareness training with unlimited seats in the first policy year. ^4,6Company-reported. 'The Cowbell Advantage' section, repeated across the reviewed product PDFs.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Cowbell says agents can quote, bind and issue Prime 100 policies in less than five minutes, and that Prime 100 Pro requires only six underwriting questions for accounts under $50M in revenue; Prime products are distributed through appointed agents rather than direct to consumers. ^4,5Company-reported. Prime 100 and Prime 100 Pro overview PDFs; speed figures are company-reported, not independently timed.

You request Founder Shield Cyber Liability Insurance through Founder Shield's website or an insurance advisor rather than binding coverage directly; Founder Shield says its placement team then approaches carriers on the client's behalf. ^15,11Company-reported. About-us and carrier-selection pages describe the general placement process, not a line-specific application form.

Cowbell says its in-house cyber claims team has over 80 years of combined claims-handling experience and provides 24/7 in-house claims support from initial triage through resolution. ^7,4Company-reported. Prime One 'When an incident occurs' section and 'Expert Claims Support' feature repeated across the product PDFs.

Not described in the reviewed sources.