Marsh vs StartupInsurance.ai Surety Bonds

Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA), Marsh's middle-market subsidiary, arranges surety bonds through a dedicated surety practice rather than underwriting them itself. ⁵Company-reported. MMA surety insurance page.

StartupInsurance.ai does not underwrite or issue surety bonds itself. ContractorNerd Insurance Services, LLC, the licensed property and casualty agency behind the brand, is licensed in all 50 states and arranges placement; its terms describe the company as an insurance agency/producer that does not underwrite insurance. Surety bonds are typically issued by a surety company rather than an insurer in the conventional sense, and the reviewed pages do not distinguish the two. ^9,10,8Company-reported. ContractorNerd's terms and conditions and insurance-licenses page; describes the brokerage's general role, not surety-specific placement terms or which entity type ultimately issues a bond.

The reviewed page does not name a specific surety insurer for a standard bond; MMA says it offers national market representation, implying the issuing surety varies by placement. ⁵Not publicly disclosed. MMA surety insurance page as read on 2026-09-23.

The homepage's carrier panel names six insurers at the program level (The Hartford, Chubb, Coalition, Tokio Marine HCC, Travelers and CNA) but does not state which one, if any, issues a given company's surety bond. ⁸Not publicly disclosed. Carrier panel is program-wide rather than broken out by line; the surety company behind a bond is not disclosed on the pages reviewed and varies by placement.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

The section frames these seven lines around founders "building robots, hardware, energy or defense tech," saying StartupInsurance.ai treats them as "our daily lines, not our exceptions" — positioning surety bonds as something it arranges regularly for hardware-adjacent startups, rather than as a rare add-on. ⁸Company-reported. Same homepage section; describes the target customer segment StartupInsurance.ai says it serves for this catalogue of lines, not formal underwriting eligibility criteria.

MMA offers Contract Surety for construction and similar projects, Commercial Surety issuing license and permit bonds nationwide (in lieu of or alongside letters of credit and other banking obligations), and International Surety for global operations facing varied regulatory requirements. ⁵Company-reported. MMA surety insurance page, Surety Coverage section.

StartupInsurance.ai lists "Surety" among seven lines in the homepage's "Physical risk, because AI outgrew software" section — Products Liability, Inland Marine, Tools and Equipment, Commercial Auto, Builders Risk, Surety and Property — offered alongside the core startup program of GL, cyber, D&O and related lines. The page uses the word "Surety" rather than "surety bonds," and does not name a bond type. ⁸Company-reported. Homepage "Physical risk, because AI outgrew software" section as read on 2026-09-23; the reviewed page names the line but does not describe bond types (e.g. license, permit, performance), bond amounts, or underwriting terms.

MMA says it has more than 150 surety professionals across all 50 states, placed $353 million in surety premium for nearly 10,000 clients, and that its markets write 95% of all contract bonds in the U.S., according to the company. ⁵Company-reported. MMA surety insurance page; company-reported statistics, not independently verified, and do not indicate bond size or capacity for an individual client.

The reviewed pages do not publish sample bond amounts, bond types, or premium rates for surety bonds. ^8,7Not found in reviewed sources. Homepage and quote-intake screen as read on 2026-09-23; bond amounts would only surface on an actual application.

MMA lists competitive indemnity package negotiation, industry benchmarking, joint-venture and teaming-agreement prequalification support, continuity and ownership-transfer consulting, and competitive program design review as services tied to its surety practice. ⁵Company-reported. MMA surety insurance page, Benefits of Surety and Surety Coverage sections.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

You work with an MMA surety specialist directly; the page names a Surety Department Supervisor and describes advisor-led placement rather than an online bond application. ⁵Company-reported. MMA surety insurance page.

The physical-risk section's call to action reads "Ask about your insurance requirements →" rather than the "Get Quotes" button used elsewhere on the homepage, indicating surety bonds are discussed with a specialist rather than quoted through a self-serve form. ⁸Company-reported. Homepage "Physical risk, because AI outgrew software" section as read on 2026-09-23; the page does not describe what that conversation covers.

The public quote-application's coverage-selection screen offers seven checkboxes (D&O, Cyber, Tech E&O, EPL, Fiduciary, Crime and GL); Surety is not one of them, so it is not part of that self-serve intake flow. ⁷Not found in reviewed sources. Initial coverage-selection screen of the quote application as read on 2026-09-23; a later screen or specialist conversation could still address this line.