UK SME litigation funder Augusta Ventures has spent a further £3m in cases in the first quarter of 2015. Unlike other funders which focus on a handful of multi-million pound investments in big cases, Augusta invests between £10,000 and £600,000 in a broad range of largely commercial litigation matters.

Asset finance

Managing Director Louis Young explains: 'We want to show the market that litigation finance for SME disputes is alive and very well. Having funded 36 cases in 2014, we want to increase that rapidly to 150 by the end of this year – there is no shortage of meritorious litigation out there, and lawyers and clients alike are starting to recognise the benefits of our approach.' He added: 'Clients see it as a form of asset finance that does not tie up cash flow and removes or reduces the risk of litigation from their balance sheet; lawyers are both generating new work and retaining matters that would otherwise have disappeared out the door.'

£50m to invest

Among the firms whose clients have already used Augusta’s Trinity product to progress their litigation are Bond Dickinson, Burges Salmon, Fox Williams, Gordon Dadds, Hill Dickinson, JMW, Keystone Law, Stephenson Harwood, Stephensons, Squire Patton Boggs, Harcus Sinclair and Ward Hadaway.Augusta has in excess of £50m to invest as it bids to bring litigation funding into the mainstream.