Cartiga, a long-standing player in consumer and attorney funding, is heading to the public markets. The company agreed to combine with Alchemy Investments Acquisition Corp. 1 in a transaction pegged at $540 million in equity consideration, positioning the platform to scale its data-driven approach to underwriting and portfolio management. Management frames the move as about reach and efficiency: tapping a listed currency, broadening investor access to the asset class, and accelerating inorganic growth.

An article in MarketWatch reports that the proposed business combination would take Cartiga public via Alchemy’s SPAC, with the parties emphasizing how a listing could support growth initiatives and acquisitions. The piece notes the strategic rationale—public-market transparency and capital flexibility—as the platform seeks to deepen its footprint in funding for legal claims and law firms.

While final timing remains subject to customary steps (including the shareholder vote and regulatory filings), the announcement marks one of the most significant U.S. litigation-finance capital-markets events of the year.

Cartiga’s trajectory reflects a broader institutionalization of legal finance: more data, more discipline, and more diversified funding channels. The company’s model—providing non-recourse advances to plaintiffs and working capital to law firms—relies on proprietary analytics and scale to manage risk and returns across cycles. A public listing, if completed, would put Cartiga alongside other listed peers globally and provide investors with another pure-play exposure to the asset class’s uncorrelated return profile.

Private equity (PE) firms often view legal disputes involving portfolio companies as liabilities—not opportunities for value creation. However, in a recent blog post, Omni Bridgeway argues that when properly modeled and leveraged, dispute finance can unlock hidden value throughout a PE investment lifecycle.

An article on Omni Bridgeway’s website explains that dispute finance enables PE firms to convert uncertain legal claims into a probability‑weighted, risk‑adjusted net present value (NPV), which can be used as a powerful negotiating lever in acquisitions. The firm illustrates this with an example: a $10 million litigation claim, after probabilistic weighting, legal cost deductions, and discounting, yields a risk‑adjusted NPV of roughly $3.5 million—highlighting how firms can avoid overpaying for speculative legal value

Once the investment is underway, dispute finance can preserve EBITDA by funding legal costs outside the P&L, since such non‑recourse financing isn’t treated as an SG&A expense or recorded as debt. Omni Bridgeway demonstrates that a $2 million litigation expense can be eliminated from SG&A, boosting EBITDA from, say, $11 million to $13 million.

As dispute finance becomes more accepted in M&A workflows, funders that offer robust valuation frameworks and flexible, non‑recourse instruments may gain a competitive edge. Overall, Omni Bridgeway’s post highlights that monetising legal claims—through non‑recourse capital advances or outright sale to a funder—can free up liquidity for operational initiatives without increasing downside risk.