Accelerant trails continued growth and confirms Flywheel Re upsizing

By Chris Munro

July 1 - (The Insurer) - Accelerant Holdings’ growth has not slowed during the early months of this year with premium volume transacted through its exchange totalling $3.51 billion through the trailing 12 months (TTM) to March 31, 2025.

As the company highlighted in its newly published S-1 registration statement, that $3.51 billion represents a continuation of the growth Accelerant has booked since its inception in 2018.

In the TTM to December 31, 2024, the Accelerant Exchange generated written premium of $3.11 billion, while in 2023, it totalled $1.79 billion.

It has achieved that growth while its gross loss ratio has remained fairly stable. For Q1 2025, its gross loss ratio was 53%, while for the entirety of 2024 it was 54% and in 2023 it was 51%.

Accelerant’s adjusted Ebitda was $128 million for the trailing 12 months ended March 31, 2025.

Its adjusted Ebitda for 2024 was $113 million and in 2023 was $36 million, while it fell to an adjusted Ebitda loss of $39 million in 2022.

In its S-1, Accelerant notes its risk exchange sits in the middle of the fast-growing MGA market, with the company serving both the supply side of the sector through its MGA operations and the demand-side via its carrier platforms.

And Accelerant said there are “multiple structural shifts” within the industry which the company believes will continue to drive opportunities for its risk exchange.

On the supply side, Accelerant said there are an “increasing number of specialty underwriters looking to start MGAs”, while there is also “increased need for specialty insurance products”.

Those are complemented by demand-side drivers as well, with Accelerant noting there is “heightened demand for low-volatility risk”, while “modern technology promotes cost-effective access to SME policies”.

At the same time, Accelerant said alternative capital increasingly desires non-financially correlated returns.

Accelerant interacts with the alternative capital sector via its Cayman Islands-based special purpose reinsurance sidecar Flywheel Re, which it formed in 2022.

The reinsurance companies and institutional investors which support Flywheel Re access Accelerant’s risk exchange by reinsuring business from Accelerant Underwriting.

As of March 31, 2025 there were four institutional investors that contributed a combined $175 million of capital to Flywheel Re, one of which was Barings LLC.

The reinsurance treaty agreed with Flywheel Re at launch was for an initial three-year term to expire in June 2025, and the company confirmed that last month it raised further capital from existing and new institutional investors to continue its sidecar strategy.

Accelerant in its S-1 said “additional capital was raised from institutional investors in June 2025 to support business assumed by Flywheel Re during a multi-year risk period scheduled to end in March 2028”.

“In June 2025, upsized capital was raised from institutional investors, including entities affiliated with Barings LLC, to support business assumed by Flywheel Re during a multi-year risk period scheduled to end in March 2028,” said Accelerant.

“In connection with the June 2025 capital raise, the entities affiliated with Barings LLC committed to contribute up to $105 million in capital to support Flywheel Re over a three-year period,” it added.