Accelerant Holdings achieved a further upsizing and extension of its Flywheel Re collateralized reinsurance sidecar in March 2026, with existing investors in the structure increasing commitments to support the firm’s continued growth and some new investors coming onboard.
These have become a growing component of its business over-time, with Flywheel Re particularly important as an efficient investor-backed source of third-party reinsurance capital to fund Accelerant’s expansion and support its Risk Exchange’s capacity needs.
Flywheel Re provides reinsurance to Accelerant Underwriting through quota share arrangements, providing its investor backers a way to access the returns of specialty insurance business transacted by the company.
Accelerant launched its Flywheel Re collateralized reinsurance sidecar in 2022 with the Cayman Islands Class C structure backed by $175 million of capital.
Four institutional investors were backing it through the first three-year term, which ended in June 2025 and roughly 27% of the business was being reinsured back to Flywheel Re at the time.
Flywheel Re was then upsized and had its term extended in June 2025, to provide reinsurance for a three-year term to end June 30th 2028.
At the same time, we reported that its initial backers had been disclosed by Accelerant, with Barings, LLC, a global investment management firm owned by MassMutual, the main investor from the launch of the Flywheel Re sidecar.
At the June 2025 upsizing and extension, Barings LLC committed to contribute up to $105 million in capital to the sidecar for that term.
Flywheel Re has become increasingly important to Accelerant, now being a growing reinsurance provider to the company.
Accelerant launched its Risk Exchange with 2 risk capital partners and has grown that to 95 partners since. But the Flywheel Re sidecar remains a major source of reinsurance capital, it appears.
Accelerant explained, “As of December 31, 2025, our Risk Capital Partners include 18 Risk Exchange insurance companies and 77 third-party reinsurers or institutional investors contributing capital to Flywheel Re.”
Flywheel Re provided roughly 25% of Accelerant’s total risk capital as of the end of 2025, which the company said creates predictability and stability.
But, some 31% of the gross written premiums reinsured to reinsurance capital providers went to Flywheel Re in full-year 2025.
Now, Accelerant has further upsized and extended the Flywheel Re reinsurance sidecar in March 2026.
The term of the quota share treaty arrangement underpinning Flywheel Re will now run until the end of 2028, so a six month extension.
At the same time the company raised additional capital for the sidecar, from both new and existing investors.
No indication of the size of Flywheel Re has been given, but after now upsizing twice and given the significant reinsurance role the sidecar plays for Accelerant, it is likely to be meaningfully larger than at its launch.
Flywheel Re supports Accelerant’s reinsurance needs in an efficient manner, leveraging institutional investor appetite for insurance-linked returns.
At the same time, Accelerant earns a form of fee income in ceding commissions from the structure, which amplifies the capital efficient effects of the reinsurance sidecar, while helping to boost income.
Find details of numerous reinsurance sidecar investments and transactions in our directory of collateralized reinsurance sidecars transactions.
