Cowbell vs HUB International

Cowbell is a specialty-insurance platform and agency, not the insurer named on every policy. Cowbell Insurance Agency LLC says it is a U.S. property-and-casualty producer and may act as a general agent for one or more carriers; the issuing insurer remains responsible for the policy. ^1,5,2

Cowbell identifies Zurich as a $60 million Series C investor and partner, while Zurich describes Cowbell as its technology collaborator for Select Plus. The reviewed sources do not describe Cowbell as a Zurich subsidiary or say that Zurich underwrites every Cowbell product. ^4,19,3

HUB International Limited describes itself as a full-service insurance broker and financial-services firm. Its website terms say HUB’s subsidiaries are licensed as insurance brokers or agents in various U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The reviewed product pages market brokerage of policies issued by insurers, not HUB as a risk-bearing carrier for those policies. ^26,27,31

HUB’s About Us timeline states that in 2022 it acquired Insureon for digital delivery of small-business commercial insurance. Insureon and TechInsurance say they are part of HUB; Insureon says it operates as a division of Specialty Program Group LLC, doing business as SPG Insurance Solutions. TechInsurance describes itself as part of Insureon rather than as a separate HUB retail office. ^{26,56,57,58,59}

Cowbell's current U.S. cyber catalogue includes admitted Prime 100 and Prime 100 Pro, non-admitted Prime 250 and Prime One, and follow-form excess Prime Plus. These are separate programs with different revenue appetites, limits, coverage descriptions and jurisdictional bases—not interchangeable versions of one policy. ^{9,11,12,13,14,15}

Prime 100 Pro advertises limits up to $3 million; Prime One advertises up to $10 million for select risks and expressly describes AI-incident and quantum-computing coverage; Prime Plus advertises up to $5 million above a primary cyber policy. All remain subject to underwriting and issued policy terms. ^12,14,15

Prime Tech combines non-admitted Technology E&O with cyber coverage for eligible technology businesses up to $1 billion in revenue and advertises limits up to $5 million. Prime Tech Plus is a separate follow-form excess Technology E&O and cyber product with up to $5 million in excess limits. ^16,17

Cowbell's U.S. management-liability offering is Zurich Select Plus, a modular product with private-company D&O, employment-practices, fiduciary and crime coverage options. Zurich says appointed Zurich E&S wholesalers access the Cowbell-powered platform; the target is private businesses under 250 employees and under $50 million in assets. ^18,19

Cowbell's product overviews say their coverage examples are illustrative and do not amend a policy. Actual coverage, conditions, limits, exclusions, availability and underwriting approval come from the issued policy and can vary by state and product. ^{11,12,13,14,15,16,17}

HUB publishes dedicated business-insurance product pages for, among other lines, general liability, commercial property, workers’ compensation, business owners policies, commercial auto (including hired and non-owned exposures and trucking), cyber, directors and officers, professional liability/E&O, crime, fiduciary liability, kidnap and ransom, surety bonds, medical malpractice, marine/inland marine and cargo, boiler and machinery/equipment breakdown, and mergers-and-acquisitions representations-and-warranties insurance. Its casualty page also lists product liability, umbrella and excess, and product-recall as program elements. Employee-benefits brokerage is marketed separately. Actual policy forms, limits and eligibility are not set by those marketing pages. ^{31,33,41,39,40,42,35,34,36,37,43,44,45,46,47,50,51,48,49,52,38}

For technology companies, HUB lists professional liability/technology E&O, cyber, a patent package described as property, auto, liability and umbrella, international placements, cargo/stock throughput, property/builders risk, pollution liability, management liability including D&O, employment-practices liability, fiduciary liability, transactional/warranty insurance, crime, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, key-person life and disability, retirement solutions, and kidnap and ransom. ³²

A U.S. buyer works through an insurance agent or broker. Cowbell provides a state-filtered agent directory, while appointed agents use Cowbell's platform to quote, bind and issue eligible products; no direct-to-buyer quote path was documented in the reviewed sources. ^8,1,9,11

On hubinternational.com, commercial buyers are asked to contact a broker, connect with a specialist, or use Contact Us. Small-commercial inquiries meeting HUB’s stated size tests go to Insureon for an online quote. Product pages such as general liability, D&O, cyber and workers’ compensation use “Contact Us” or “Connect With a Broker” rather than an on-site bind flow. Privacy policy language refers to automation for insurance quoting, without documenting a public HUB retail e-commerce checkout for mid-market programs. ^{30,33,34,35,32,28}

Cowbell's materials name Palomar Specialty Insurance Company for Prime 100 and Prime 100 Pro, Palomar and Chaucer Specialty Insurance Company for Prime 250, and Chaucer for Prime One. Prime Plus and Prime Tech Plus name only A-rated carrier paper, while the Select Plus page says Zurich admitted paper without naming the issuing legal entity. ^{11,12,13,14,15,17,18,7}

HUB’s compensation page says it has access to the products and services of hundreds of insurers and that it focuses on a smaller set of “Strategic Carriers,” which may pay enhanced compensation. Property, casualty and marine pages refer to domestic, national, regional, specialty and global carrier relationships without publishing a complete appointment list. ProEx says it places more than $2 billion of premium with top-rated insurance carriers; that volume and rating language is company-reported and does not name the carriers. Issuing insurers therefore have to be taken from a quote, not from the public catalogue. ^{29,41,49,50,38}

Insureon says it has access to 100+ insurance providers and names The Hartford, Chubb, Hiscox, Liberty Mutual and Travelers as examples. Those names are Insureon’s examples for its digital agency, not a statement that every HUB retail placement uses the same insurers, and they do not identify the issuing company on a particular policy. ⁵⁶

Cowbell says its in-house cyber claims team and incident-response panel are available around the clock. Its public intake instructions ask for the policy number or company name, the incident date and details, and a point of contact; coverage and claim payment still depend on the issuing insurer and policy. ^21,11,14

HUB markets a claims-management practice that it says includes dedicated claims professionals, advocacy, coverage-dispute support, TPA selection and audits, reserve analysis and litigation-management support. It states the team has more than 225 claims professionals in the United States and Canada. The page also publishes numerical process claims such as 24-hour turnaround on claims reporting; those figures are company-reported marketing metrics, not independently verified outcomes, and they do not describe how a particular insurer will adjust a claim. ⁵⁴