Cowbell Cyber Launches With Industry’s First Continuous Underwriting Platform; Raises $3.3 Million Seed Round

Seed Funding from ManchesterStory Group, Holmes Murphy & Associates, Tri-Valley Ventures and Global Insurance Accelerator To Address Insurability Gap for Cyber

Cowbell Cyber, a startup focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered cyber insurance for small to mid-sized enterprises, introduced the industry’s first continuous underwriting platform that aligns insurable threats to risk exposures to identify cyber risks and proactively mitigate losses in the aftermath of cyberattacks. The company has secured $3.3 Million in seed funding from leading insurance, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence venture funds including ManchesterStory Group, Holmes Murphy & Associates, Tri-Valley Ventures and the Global Insurance Accelerator. This investment will help accelerate the go-to-market and development of its continuous risk assessment, underwriting, and comprehensive cyber liability insurance platform.

“With the increasing magnitude and frequency of cyber attacks, organizations not only need to focus on prevention and detection but also on managing risk mitigation in the aftermath of attacks,” said Jack Kudale, founder and CEO, Cowbell Cyber. “Cowbell Cyber has demystified enterprise-specific insurance coverage through the development of an early warning system that enables companies to gain complete insight into risk exposure and take control of loss mitigation while increasing insurability.”

The cyber insurance market has experienced a boom in recent years with high-profile breaches making weekly headlines and is forecasted to reach $14B globally by 2022. However, the lack of observability into the real risk profile of cyber insurance has challenged insurance distribution, underwriting, and claims. Cowbell Cyber uses an inside-out approach to offer ongoing, dynamic, automated, insurable cyber risk assessments, providing customers with real-time insights into insurable risks. It’s flagship continuous risk-ratings factor, Cowbell Factor™, enables customized protection and recommendations to provide a policy that matches the customers’ needs as they evolve. Coverage is specifically designed for cyber risk exposure — not entwined with other lines of coverage.

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“Cyber insurance is one of the most technology savvy lines of insurance products. However, it is underwritten once a year, whereas risk is changing by the second,” said David Miles, Co-founder and Managing Partner, ManchesterStory Group. “Cowbell Cyber’s platform has been developed to help enterprises better protect their businesses by offering standalone, automated and continuous underwriting capabilities. We are pleased to support Cowbell’s commitment to bridging the global insurability gap in cybersecurity and have great confidence in the founding team’s experience and vision.”

Founded by some of the industry’s leading minds in cybersecurity, insurance, and engineering, the Cowbell Cyber executive team brings a unique perspective, perfect for a business that focuses on an organization’s individual insurance requirements. Together, these individuals, along with the full Cowbell Cyber team, are bringing long-needed innovation to the cyber insurance marketplace. Key members of the executive team include:

• Jack Kudale, Founder and Chief Executive Officer
• Rajeev Gupta, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer
• Trent Cooksley, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer
• Prab Reddy, Co-founder and Vice President of Engineering

“We are intrigued by the inside-out approach Cowbell Cyber is taking to build their continuous underwriting platform. Cowbell Factor, the continuous risk-ratings factor, not only represents the residual cyber risk in enterprise at a granular level, but also has potential to become a core tenant for use cases such as M&A due diligence, budget planning, and audit committee reporting,” said Mike Badeaux, Vice President, Information Security at American Equity, a founding investor of the Global Insurance Accelerator. “As we continue to work with the Cowbell team, we are extremely impressed with their ability to expedite this cross-industry innovation, given the widely understood fact that outside-in security risk ratings approaches are falling short to address the cyber insurability gap.”

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Cowbell Cyber plans to initially make its cyber insurance policy, Cowbell Prime™, available in the State of California for businesses up to $250M via a retail broker distribution channel during the first quarter of 2020.

“We are looking forward to investing in and working with Cowbell Cyber as they enter the market with this cutting-edge technology,” said Dan Keough, Chairman & CEO, Holmes Murphy. “Our No. 1 priority has always been our clients and ensuring they’re protected. This is especially relevant more than ever with the evolution of cyber risks impacting our clients. As we look to the future of technology and innovation within the industry, we believe Cowbell Cyber will be a thought leader in this specialized area of risk and we’re happy to invest in their efforts.”

Cowbell Cyber will be participating at InsureTech Connect (Kiosk K40), held in Las Vegas, Nevada, through September 25, 2019. The company has been selected as one of three finalists in the prestigious Resiliency Innovation Challenge, hosted by InsureTech Connect and the Insurance Information Institute, which honors the development of innovative technologies to assist the insurance industry in managing growing catastrophic risks. Join Cowbell Cyber on Wednesday, September 25 at 2 p.m. (PT) at Sagebrush (Room 369/370) to hear more about the company and see who will be crowned the winner.

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