Aug 7, 2025

Today Upcover has entered into a partnership with Coalition to launch a new digital platform offering cyber insurance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and startups in Australia. The new self-serve digital insurance platform is designed to provide faster access to tailored cyber insurance coverage, reducing the typical timeframe for purchasing policies from weeks or months to just minutes. This initiative follows research indicating that a significant proportion of Australian SMBs are underinvesting in cybersecurity, exposing themselves to greater risks of data breaches and cyber attacks. According to a recent Business NSW survey, 22 per cent of small businesses and 15 per cent of medium businesses intend to cut their spending on cybersecurity management. Additionally, data from the Insurance Council of Australia highlights that only up to 20 per cent of SMBs currently have cyber insurance. Coalition's own research found that 64 per cent of SMBs believe they are too small to be targeted by cyber criminals. Self-reported data referenced in the latest Australian Signals Directorate annual report suggests that the average cost for a small business to address a cyber incident is AUD $49,600, with the figure rising to around AUD $63,000 for medium and large businesses. Market approach Upcover said the digital insurance platform would focus on making the acquisition and management of cyber insurance more straightforward, particularly for industries dealing with sensitive information, such as Financial Services and Allied Health. Skye Theodorou, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Upcover, commented on the significance of providing easier access to cyber insurance for Australian companies: Cybersecurity is a significant risk for Australian businesses, and it isn't going away any time soon. Through this partnership and Upcover's digital platform, we're looking to reduce the complexity involved with attaining coverage for this kind of incident. Theodorou continued: "This builds on our existing cybersecurity offering, further reducing the complexity commonly seen with attaining this kind of coverage. We're also automating what has historically been a manual process that typically requires a lot of back and forth and can span for months, so that our specialty lines broking team can place cyber insurance for high limits and any business with a range of market-leading insurance partners. "While it makes sense for all businesses to insure themselves against cyber crime, we're aiming this product at those in Financial Services and the Allied Health industries who generally have the most to lose from a cyber attack, given the sensitive nature of the information they deal with." Trent Nihill, Head of Underwriting at Coalition Australia, commented on the partnership: Upcover's digital-first insurance distribution platform enables us to continue protecting the unprotected. Many small and medium businesses in Australia still do not purchase cyber insurance. By using Upcover's streamlined platform, customers can now rapidly quote and bind Coalition's unique Active Cyber Insurance online. Plans for 2025 Cyber insurance will be one of several new products that Upcover plans to roll out in 2025. The company currently serves more than 60,000 businesses with its insurance platform and reports that one in three businesses receiving a business insurance quote on the Upcover platform subsequently become policyholders. The organisation expects the simplicity and cost competitiveness of digital distribution to further drive adoption. Follow us on: