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Insurance for start-ups - get off to a safe start

  • customized commercial insurance
  • get a non-binding quote in 9 minutes
  • purchase and manage 100 % online
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What damages are covered?

  • financial damages of third parties
  • personal injury, property damage and consequential property damage
  • Damage caused by cyber attacks
  • Damage to inventory, goods and electronics
  • Costs for legal disputes
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How much does this policy cost?

The business liability insurance is available

from 15 € / monthly

Would you like to know how much this insurance costs for you or your business? With just a few questions, we can calculate a tailored quote.
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Covered in 9 minutes!*

Step 1 – Answer a few questions about your business

Step 2 – Get a product recommendation and personalized quote

Step 3 – Purchase your coverage immediately and manage 100% online

*Depending on elected insurance product, desired start-date of policy and our insurance partners

The right insurance for your startup

Start-ups are characterized above all by their innovation and growth potential, but are often also confronted with unexpected financial risks. In order to protect themselves in the best possible way, it is essential to have insurance coverage that is tailored to the respective industry. Without it, young companies risk their existence if comes to an incident. That's why it's worth considering insurance at an early stage. Here you can calculate your non-binding offer in just a few minutes.

The optimal insurance for start-ups

Whether you are in app development, a digital marketplace or e-commerce business - depending on the type and risks of your start-up, the necessary insurance cover also differs. To make it easy for you, we provide a digital process that allows you to quickly and easily calculate your custom-fit risk coverage.

Our insurance coverage for your start-up - the benefits: 

  • Customized protection tailored to the risks of your start-up
  • no-binding quote in just nine minutes
  • Personal consultation with insurance experts if needed
  • instant price calculation thanks to insureQ algorithm - including compulsory insurance
  • convenient online processing of policy adjustments and claims notifications 
  • ARAG, R+V and Hiscox as insurance carriers and experienced partners

Why should I insure my start-up?

When it comes to insurance, start-ups should not wait too long. Because: once an incident has occurred, it is too late to take out insurance. The financial consequences that result can become a deal-breaker, especially for start-ups, and endanger the existence of companies and founders. It does not matter whether a start-up is already generating revenue or not. You are still fully liable for any damage or offense.

Which insurances are relevant for start-ups?

As a general rule, suitable insurance coverage must always be tailored to the individual needs of a start-up. Therefore, we can only provide an initial indication of which insurances are generally suitable for start-ups. If you want to know more, you can calculate a non-binding quote. It is also important for you that the insureQ insurance solution offers coverage for all typical activities of a startup (all-risk insurance) that are not explicitly named.

The financial loss liability insurance for start-ups

Urgently needed for every startup is the financial loss liability insurance - also called professional liability insurance or pecuniary loss insurance. It covers the costs of financial damages caused to third parties by you. This means that if you cause costs for your customer due to programming errors, trademark infringements or missed deadlines, these are covered by the financial loss liability insurance. In addition, with an insureQ add-on module, you can also insure financial losses incurred by yourself - so-called self-damage. We would like to use concrete examples to show in which cases this coverage is particularly important.

Liability insurance for pecuniary loss: examples for start-ups

Example 1: You migrate a customer's database to a new management system. In the process, important information is lost. Your customer holds you responsible for the loss.

Example 2: Due to a programming error on your part, your business partner's website is unavailable for several hours. He demands compensation for lost sales.

Example 3: Due to an illness in your team, you miss a deadline. Your customer withdraws from the contract and demands compensation.

Example 4: Due to carelessness, you use copyrighted images for your business partner's website. A short time later, he receives a warning letter, which he passes on to you.

The D&O insurance start-ups: protection for founders.

Directors & officers insurance - also known as directors' liability insurance - protects managers of a company from the financial consequences of faulty decisions. Poor organization, faulty auditing or selection of unsuitable employees - without coverage, managers are liable for mistakes with their own personal assets. For this reason, specific coverage is urgently needed for particularly high-risk and responsible positions. Good to know and an argument in favor of D&O insurance: in most cases, investors demand this coverage before they invest in a company.

D&O insurance: Start-up damage examples

Example 1: As the CEO of a start-up, you submit a subsidy application too late. As a result, the company misses out on important subsidies that you are now supposed to reimburse.

Example 2: You make a mistake when calculating an offer for a new customer. As a result of the unprofitable deal, your company loses several thousand euros. You should pay for the damage.

Example 3: Your start-up is unable to repay a loan. As managing director, you should have informed the bank about the risks. Since this did not happen, the bank demands compensation.

Business liability insurance for start-ups

In contrast to a financial loss liability insurance, a business liability insurance does not cover purely financial losses, but personal injury, property damage and their financial consequences. The insurance covers claims for damages arising from injuries to third parties or damage to third-party property. This coverage is especially important if you or your employees have direct customer contact.

Public liability: Examples of damages from start-ups

Example 1: A customer trips over a power cable in your office and injures his knee. He blames you for it and demands compensation.

Example 2: During a meeting with a customer, you accidentally spill coffee on her laptop. She demands a refund for the device.

Cyber insurance for startups.

The demand for virtual collaboration opportunities is increasing, and so is the potential for attack by hackers. Cyber insurance prevents risks from the network and is an optimal supplement for an intact security infrastructure. However, the protection of a cyber insurance goes beyond the pure protection against phishing attacks & Co. and also covers the consequences of own operating errors or data rights violations. We, at insureQ, also offer you the option to add a module for financial protection against business interruptions. This means that if you have to interrupt your business due to a cyber incident and thus lose sales, the cyber business interruption insurance will cover the costs.

Startup loss examples: Own mistakes and cyber attacks.

Example 1: You accidentally publish your business partner's information on the Internet that should not yet be made public (= data breach). Your partner claims damages.

Example 2: Hackers gain access to sensitive customer data through a targeted attack. You and your start-up have to pay for the damage.

Example 3: Improper operation of your IT systems destroys important customer data. Your company is held responsible for this.

In addition to support from PR, IT crisis experts and data protection lawyers, we, at insureQ, provide free cyber training to prevent a potential risk.

Electronics and content insurance for startups.

Electronics and contents insurance is important for startups that own office equipment and electronic devices, such as smartphones or laptops. These are replaced by contents insurance in the event of damage. However, this protection only kicks in if the damage was caused by storms, hail, fire, power water or by a burglary. It does not matter whether the damage occurred on a business trip, in the company's own office or at the customer's premises. And here, too, business interruption insurance can be added, which, similar to cyber insurance, covers the loss of profit.

Practical examples of start-ups: Damage to inventory

Example 1: When your office is broken into, your company laptop is stolen and the entire inventory destroyed. Important contacts and information that you need for your work are stored on the device. This means that in addition to the inventory damage, you also incur downtime damage due to a business interruption.

Example 2: A fire in your office building destroys your entire inventory and electronic equipment. Without electronics and contents insurance, you have to pay for the damage yourself.

Corporate legal protection makes sense for every entrepreneur, because it happens quickly that you get into a legal dispute through no fault of your own. Then good advice - in the truest sense of the word - is expensive. Lawyer, court and expert costs quickly devour the valuable capital of a young company. That's why it pays to invest in appropriate legal protection in good time - right from the start. This saves costs in the long term and secures your own existence if, for example, you get into a legal dispute with a disgruntled employee, a customer or a business partner.

Insurance coverage for start-ups: Who is covered?

We, at insureQ, offer customized insurance coverage that covers management, salaried and freelance employees, working students, interns, volunteers and employees of temporary employment agencies. In addition, subsidiaries within the European Economic Area are also covered in an insurance policy for startups.

What does insurance for my start-up cost?

The cost of commercial coverage must be calculated individually for each company and cannot be estimated as a lump sum. Important factors for the calculation are the industry, the associated risk, the company size and the selected coverage amount - also called sum insured. Since we want to give you more than just an approximate guideline here, we recommend that you calculate a non-binding quote in the online process. With the help of our algorithm, this can be done in as little as nine minutes. Simply try it out and find out exactly how much commercial insurance will cost for your startup.

    List of contents

  • The right insurance for your startup
  • The optimal insurance for start-ups
  • Why should I insure my start-up?
  • Which insurances are relevant for start-ups?
  • Insurance coverage for start-ups: Who is covered?
  • What does insurance for my start-up cost?