After a funding round

Insurance for newly-funded UK startups

You have raised — and the insurance picture changes the moment you do. New investors want protection for the board, bigger clients write bigger contracts, and you now have a balance sheet, data and intellectual property worth protecting. This is the overview of what a funded startup typically puts in place after a round, and in what order, with links to the detail on each cover.

Part of: Commercial insurance

In short

Raising money changes your insurance in four ways. Investors usually want directors’ and officers’ (D&O) cover once there is an external board; bigger clients and signed contracts demand higher professional-indemnity limits and specific indemnities; you now hold data, funds and intellectual property worth protecting; and losing a founder would set the plan back. This page is the overview of what a funded startup typically lines up after a round, and the order to do it in, with links to the detail on each cover. We do not publish premiums — they turn on your stage, sector and contracts — but we set out the levers and return competing quotes to compare. It is different from cover for a business that has not started trading yet.

What changes when you raise

Each thing that changes after a round points to a specific cover. This is the quick map:

What the round changes	The cover it points to
External investors and a proper board	Directors’ & officers’ (D&O) liability
Bigger clients and signed contracts / MSAs	Higher professional-indemnity limits and the right indemnities
Holding customer data or running a platform clients rely on	Cyber and data
A balance sheet, cash and funds to protect	D&O and crime cover
Product, brand and intellectual property to defend	Intellectual-property and legal-expenses cover
Founders the plan depends on	Key-person cover

You will not need all of it on day one. The point after a round is to know what is now relevant and to line it up before a contract, an investor or an incident forces the question.

The core covers after a round

These are the covers a funded startup most often needs. Each links through to the detail:

Directors’ & officers’ (D&O). Protects the personal liability of founders and directors for decisions they make running the company. It is the cover investors most often ask for — see D&O for startups, whether VC investors require D&O, and D&O for tech companies.
Professional indemnity (PI). If you deliver work, software or advice to clients, your contracts will usually set a minimum limit. We read the contract and match the cover — see the technology PI guide.
Cyber and data. Once you hold customer data or run a platform, a breach hits both your operations and your clients. See cyber insurance.
Intellectual property and legal expenses. Cover for defending — or pursuing — disputes over IP, contracts and employment, which grow more likely as you scale.
Key-person. Pays out if a founder or key employee the business depends on dies or cannot work, buying time to recover.

What order to put them in

You do not buy everything at once. A sensible order for most funded startups:

First: D&O and professional indemnity — these are the two most often triggered by an investment round and by client contracts.
Early, if it applies: cyber, as soon as you hold customer data or your clients depend on your platform.
As you scale: intellectual-property, legal-expenses and key-person cover, as the value at stake in each grows.

The trigger is usually external — a term sheet, a client contract, a new hire — so the useful thing is to line the cover up just ahead of the trigger, not after it.

What investors and contracts actually ask for

Two things tend to force the timing, and both are worth getting ahead of:

Investors. Term sheets and shareholders’ agreements commonly require D&O cover once external money and an independent director come in. Having it ready avoids holding up completion.
Client contracts. Master services agreements usually specify a professional-indemnity limit, and increasingly a cyber requirement, with evidence on request. Keeping current certificates to hand keeps sales moving.

We help you read what each actually requires, so you buy the limit and basis that satisfy the contract rather than guessing.

Why a funded startup needs a broker, not a portal

Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, placing professional indemnity insurance for funded startups and scaleups across the UK. It is one of the longest-established independently owned professional indemnity specialists in the UK, and it is not for sale: we have declined approaches to buy the firm. We are not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, we do not run our own policy or underwriting, and we have no placement quotas. We have access to over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, and we usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Every client has a named broker — the same person from first quote to renewal — and every claim notification gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue.

Owned by its directors, not for sale. No consolidator, no private-equity owner, no external shareholders — and we have declined approaches to buy the firm. Read the Apex Independence Charter.
Independent, not tied. No single-insurer scheme, no in-house policy, no placement quotas — the recommendation is the one that fits, not the one we are paid to push.
Over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s. Specialist UK PI insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk that one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Usually three or four competing quotes, laid out side by side — limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium — with a plain-language note on the trade-offs.
The stay-put letter. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing, free and without obligation. How the stay-put letter works.
A named broker all year. The person who places your cover is the person who picks up the phone at renewal, on a mid-term change, or when a letter of claim lands.
Director-level attention on claims. We help you notify circumstances early and in the right form, stay involved once the insurer’s panel solicitors are appointed, and tell you plainly where you stand.
Directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, not an appointed representative trading under someone else’s permissions.

Not trading yet? Cover for a business before it starts is a different question — see new business insurance.

Frequently asked

Do investors require D&O insurance?

Commonly, yes. Once you take external investment and add an independent director, term sheets and shareholders’ agreements often require directors’ and officers’ cover. Our guide on whether VC investors require D&O explains what is typically asked for and why.

How much professional indemnity does a funded startup need?

It depends on your client contracts, which usually set a minimum limit, and on the size and type of work you do. We read the contracts and match the cover rather than publish a figure. The technology PI guide covers how limits are set.

When should a startup get cyber insurance?

As soon as you hold customer data or run a platform your clients depend on — often earlier than founders expect, because a breach affects your clients as well as you. See cyber insurance.

Is this different from new-business insurance?

Yes. This page is for a company that has already started trading and has just raised. If you have not started trading yet, our new business insurance guide is the right starting point.

Just closed a round?

Tell us your stage, sector and the contracts you’re signing, and we’ll map the cover you actually need — then return competing quotes to compare. Or call 0117 325 0027.

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms. Premium figures shown are historic typical ranges from Apex’s own placements, not quotes.