Litigation Finance - My 26M Euros portfolio (BONUS: Free resources)

[James Orwell]

Hi all,

Please find below the list I've been compiling over the past few days with the help of ChatGPT.

i’m sharing the list here, in case it helps others in similar situations.

My situation:

I currently hold a portfolio of litigation claims totaling over €26 million (17M of claims ready to go, additional 9M currently under review), involving 144 counterparties in the construction sector. These are contractual penalty claims under Estonian law against Italian counterparts, with:

• Signed contracts (mostly in English)
• All the docs in order, ready for filing with the court
• Personal guarantees from directors
• Jurisdiction clauses pointing to Harju County Court (Tallinn)
• 87 formal demand letters issued, all ignored (strong point in Estonian courts)
• Minimum claim value: €50K
• Maximum claim value: €976K
• Budget €1.5 Million (entire portfolio)

I’m looking to either:

• Assign the claims entirely, or
• Partner with a funder under a waterfall recovery model
• A mix of the above

I retain counsel in both Estonia and Italy. Given the legal framework and debtor silence, I believe this is a highly enforceable and attractive portfolio.

Questions for the community:

• Has anyone worked with any of these funders directly?
• Do you have advice on how to approach them,or others not listed?
• Would anyone be open to a warm intro or just sharing how you got in the door?

As promised, here's the list, with just one word of warning: although I checked all the websites myself, some of them do not finance commercial litigations like mine (e.g. https://www.crowdjustice.com/all-cases/ ); others don't work outside of the US or the UK, or require an ATE insurance I don't currently have; others are just advisors, who claim to be able to market your case to their "vast array of capital sources".

Still, I believe the full list could be useful. Just browse the websites and see in what they specialize.

Arcadia Finance https://www.arcadiafin.com

Aristata Capital https://www.aristata.co.uk/

Asertis https://asertis.co.uk

Augusta Ventures https://www.augustaventures.com

AxiaFunder https://www.axiafunder.com

Balance Legal Capital https://www.balancelegalcapital.com

Bench Walk https://benchwalk.com

Black Eagle http://blackeaglefund.org

Burford Capital https://www.burfordcapital.com

Calunius Capital https://www.calunius.com

CASL https://casl.com.au/

Certum Group certumgroup.com

Claims Funding Europe https://www.claimsfundingeurope.eu/

ClaimTrading https://www.claimtrading.com

CrowdJustice https://www.crowdjustice.com

Curiam Capital https://www.curiam.com/

Deminor https://www.deminor.com

Erso Capital https://www.ersocap.com

Factor Risk https://www.factor-risk.com

Foris https://www.foris.com

GLScap https://www.glscap.com

Harbour Litigation Funding https://www.harbourlitigationfunding.com

Innsworth Advisors https://www.innsworth.com

IVO Capital Partners https://en.ivocapital.com/

Kapatens https://kapatens.com

LegalFundHub https://www.legalfundhub.com/

Legalist, Inc. https://www.legalist.com

LegalPay https://www.legalpay.in/

LexShares https://www.lexshares.com

LitFin https://litfin.capital/

Litigium Capital https://litigiumcapital.com

Longford Capital Management https://www.longfordcapital.com

Loopa Finance https://www.loopa.finance

Manolete Partners https://www.manolete-partners.com

Mourant Ozannes https://www.mourant.com

Nivalion https://www.nivalion.com

NorthWall Capital https://northwallcapital.com/

Omni Bridgeway https://www.omnibridgeway.com

Orchard Global https://www.orchardgroup.com

Parabellum Capital https://www.parabellumcap.com

Polaric Partners https://www.polaric-partners.com/

Pretium https://pretium.com

QLP https://www.qlp.ltd.uk

Redress Solutions https://www.redresssolutions.co.uk

Sentry Funding https://www.sentryfunding.co.uk

Signal Peak Partners https://signalpeakllc.com/

Soryn IP Capital https://www.sorynipcap.com/

Therium https://www.therium.com

Vannin Capital https://www.vannin.com

Westfleet Advisors https://www.westfleetadvisors.com

Winward https://www.winward.uk/

Woodsford https://www.woodsford.com

 

[wellington]

Ambulance chasing?

 

[James Orwell]

Ambulance chasing?

That's an interesting market, no doubts. But no, we're in a whole different playground.

I don't see a lot of posts about litigation funding around here, only this recent one claiming 20-25% a year.

Hence the decision of sharing the above list, for anybody interested. Plenty of funds are actually open to investors. The returns claimed by the funds are impressive.

My case aside, I guess it's a win-win.

 

[James Orwell]

Sorry, the post I was referencing above here:

B

Thread 'What investment is making you 10%+ yearly?'

Feb 28, 2024

Out of boredom and curiosity.
Anybody here is investing money and making at least 10% (or more) on the invested capital?

If yes, what did you invested in?

Please NO CRYPTO answers.

• bibing
• Replies: 204
• Forum: Investment

• 

 

[alley]

Thanks for putting this together, really valuable list, especially for those of us exploring litigation finance for the first time.

I’ve been looking into third party funders for a smaller claim (low six figures), and one of the biggest challenges is figuring out which firms actually deal with commercial disputes outside the UK/US.
A lot of them look great on the surface but either require ATE insurance, a UK jurisdiction, or are purely focused on group/class actions.

It’s interesting to see that you’re working under Estonian law, not many examples floating around online.

Curious if you’ve found any of the EU-based funders (like Deminor or Nivalion) to be open to single claim portfolios from lesser-known jurisdictions?

Also agree with your point about advisors vs. actual funders, I’ve wasted too much time with “connectors” who promise access to capital but are just building their own pitch decks off your documents.

 

[James Orwell]

Hey Alley! My pleasure

In addition to the issues you mentioned (jurisdiction limitations, ATE insurance, class action), I discovered during my research that most litigation funders require a minimum return multiple of 6x. In other words, for a budget of $100K to cover legal expenses (some even offer to reimburse past legal costs, which is quite impressive), they expect a realistic claim of at least $600K. This ensures that,if successful,the recovery covers their principal, profit, any applicable lawyer success fees, and still leaves the plaintiff with something, even if the judge decides to reduce the $600K to a smaller figure.


Because of this, claims in the low six figures may be especially hard to finance, depending on the complexity of the case and ultimately on the hours needed to put the case together.

I'm hopeful as mine are pretty straightforward, we won't need a lot of hours per case, and a budget of 10k per single counterpart is more than conservative. As the average claim exceeds 150K, the multiplier isn't an issue.

As for your questions, I still cannot provide any answers. I’ve recently reached out to a few companies that seemed better aligned with what I’m looking for.

As for Estonia, I’m curious myself how it will be perceived. The jurisdiction was picked for its cost-effective, efficient, and relatively swift legal system.

To give you an idea: my Estonian lawyer recently told me, “I’m so sorry, James, the court is overwhelmed with work, and I don’t expect a judgment before 6–9 months.”

In Southern EU countries that would look like a fast-track process!