The litigation funding industry is an undeniable and growing force in the US, and in other countries. The industry began its rise in the US in the late 2000s, as I pointed out at the time - e.g. here. A 2009 meeting at RAND was a notable step on the journey; see RAND summary here.
More than a decade later, the litigation funding processes and key players continue to evolve, as do the responses of the various state and federal legal systems. This month, the American Bar Association adopted a set of recommendations on litigation funding. The ABA's current actions are nicely summarized in an August 4, 2020 post at the D&O Diary, with links to some pertinent past ABA documents, as well as the new Best Practices document.
Where will this all go? One certainty is that the amount of litigation funding will increase. My personal belief is that we will see more investment in both sides of "toxic tort" cases, but especially plaintiff side cases. It also seems logical that there will be investment in development of knowledge useable in those cases.