One of Peter Thiel’s Fellows Created a New Startup That Will Fund Lawsuits
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A new startup, Legalist, is looking to make money from the practice of bankrolling lawsuits, reports Business Insider. The startup plans to fund those that it calculates has a chance to win.
Although Eva Shang, its cofounder, is a Thiel Fellow, she said the company won’t be funding lawsuits like the one Peter Thiel backed when Hulk Hogan successfully sued Gawker. The fellowship means that Shand took a $100,000 investment from Thiel’s foundation to help build Legalist.
“In a presentation at Y Combinator’s Demo Day on Tuesday, Shang argued that litigation funding is poised to become an ‘explosive asset class.’ The startup has funded one lawsuit for $75,000 and expects a return of over $1 million once the case is over. That money will then be reinvested in other lawsuits, and the process will repeat itself,” reports Biz Carson.
Legalist uses an algorithm tocalculates the odds of winning the case and the time scale in which it would finish.