Audley Capital offers investors significant returns with a healthy dose of social impact.
It’s harder for a business to impress these days. It’s not just about being innovative or getting ahead of the competition, social impact matters too. Audley Capital, a London-based global litigation finance and legal services consultancy, is firing on all three cylinders.
Founded in 2023, the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Audley Capital has a strong mission, namely to transform the litigation finance industry via “a win-win scenario” which provides solid returns for investors “whilst driving positive social impact through the cases we fund,” explains co-founder Nick Wood. “The inception of Audley Capital was motivated by the recognition of litigation finance as an uncorrelated asset class with tremendous potential,” he continues.
Its primary market speaks to the firm’s social impact heart: “We target the mass consumer claim market, financing human interest cases that yield positive results for disadvantaged groups. Our clients encompass law firms, litigation funders, family offices, wealth managers, and impact investors.”
Litigation funding isn’t a brand new concept, but Audley Capital’s innovative approach is. Its AI platform, from a collaboration with legal-tech AI platform Legal Intelligence, is integrated throughout its platforms. The technology improves both decision-making and risk management, enabling Audley Capital to “democratise access to justice whilst delivering attractive returns to investors.” Work with litigation funders is streamlined by incorporating Audley Capital’s technology into their funding processes to ensure operational efficiency and capital protection. “Our return profile is exceptionally competitive and uncorrelated with traditional market forces, rendering it an appealing option for investors pursuing diversification and impact.”
Audley Capital co-founder, Nick Wood“While litigation finance remains a relatively new investment environment, we are confident that it will soon become as mainstream as traditional asset classes,” Nick states. Evidence points to the fact he is correct. The annual market size is expected to grow to $30 billion by the end of the decade. “Our deal-flow-centric model complements this growth by constantly innovating, whether through our proprietary Legal Intelligence platform or our investment instrumentation.”
Like any competitive business, challenges have been had. For Nick and his co-founder Rick Gregory, this includes gaining the trust of investors to show that legal assets are a great alternative to traditional investments. “We envision a bright future not only for traditional investors but also for ESG funds and impact investors who are increasingly attracted to the sector.” Market education is another significant, yet positive challenge. Some investors are still unfamiliar with litigation finance and its potential for considerable returns and social impact versus other, more traditional investments like property and equities. However, the team are committed to empowering more investors with knowledge over the next year and beyond.
The firm has many exciting plans in place, one of them being global market expansion, particularly where “litigation finance is still emerging.” This, Nick explains, will help them “to tap into new deal flows” and diversify their investment portfolio. Partnerships with legal tech startups to “further enhance technological capabilities and stay ahead of industry trends” feature too.
Audley Capital has a compelling five-year vision. This includes integrating “AI-driven tools” into case assessment, outcome prediction, and portfolio management, helping them secure their place as a leader in the innovative litigation finance space.
Of course, the co-founders have learned plenty of leadership lessons along the way; keeping their cool in an emerging market fraught with challenges is one of them. Others include the importance of building a solid team with diverse skills and being adaptable to navigate the complexities of litigation finance, but it’s all part of the journey.
While Nick and his co-founder have not chosen the easiest market to operate in, it’s a space which has huge commercial and social pay-offs for both businesses like theirs, and clients. Considering Audley Capital’s focus on innovative technology and pure, entrepreneurial ambition, they are in the right place to prosper.