India-US Startup Insurance: What founders get wrong (and how to fix it) In partnership with RiskCube

If you're an India-founded startup with a Delaware C-Corp, insurance is probably not top of mind right now. Most founders think about it when a lawyer mentions it in passing, or when someone on the team says "we should probably sort this out eventually."

Then a funding round or an enterprise deal comes along, and suddenly it's urgent.

Why insurance comes up at the worst possible time?

There are two moments when founders realize they need insurance. The first is right before closing a round, when an investor flags D&O insurance as a closing condition. The second is right before going live with a big enterprise customer, when their procurement team asks for proof of Cyber Liability and Tech E&O coverage from a top-rated carrier.

Both situations have one thing in common, you're already deep in the deal, you have no time, and now you're scrambling to get something done that should have been sorted months ago.

The good news is it's not complicated. You just need to know where to start.

Buy through the U.S. Entity

This is the mistake a lot of India-US founders make. They assume they need separate policies for the India subsidiary and the U.S. parent. You don't.

The simpler path is to buy insurance through your Delaware C-Corp. Most startup policies include worldwide coverage, so your India-based team is covered under the same program. It's cheaper, easier to manage, and it's what U.S. enterprises and top-tier investors actually want to see.

If you expand to new regions or add subsidiaries later, the same program scales with you without any restructuring.

What enterprises will actually ask for?

When a Fortune 500 procurement team sends over their insurance requirements, here's the typical range:

• Cyber Liability: $1M to $5M+
• Tech E&O: $1M to $5M+
• D&O Insurance: $1M to $5M+
• General Liability: $1M per occurrence
• Professional Liability: $1M to $5M+

Beyond the numbers, they'll want three things: a carrier with an AM Best rating of A- or better, a Certificate of Insurance (COI), and Additional Insured status for their organization.

The AM Best rating is basically a financial health check for insurers. An A- or better means the carrier is stable enough to pay out large claims. This is not a box-ticking exercise either. There are startups that bought policies from carriers that didn't meet this threshold, only to have enterprise procurement reject their COI and lose the deal entirely. Most reputable U.S. startup carriers do clear this bar, but it's worth confirming before you buy rather than after.

Does a U.S. policy actually cover your India operations?

Yes, for most startup policies it does. Cyber, Tech E&O, and D&O policies from U.S. carriers typically extend worldwide, covering your India-based engineering and ops teams. This is one of the cleaner advantages of anchoring your insurance to the U.S. parent.

When should you actually do this?

Before you need it. If you're heading into a Series A or starting enterprise sales conversations, get your insurance sorted in advance. The process is quicker than most founders expect, but it's not instant, and you don't want it blocking a deal that's otherwise ready to close.

Inkle helps India-founded startups manage their U.S. C-Corp compliance, from incorporation to bookkeeping and tax. For insurance, we partner with RiskCube, an AI-native insurance broker for startups with access to A-rated U.S. carriers and no broker fees. Explore the perk on Inkle.