Legal technology startup Alma, based in San Francisco and co-founded by Harvard Business School alumna from Kazakhstan Asel Tuleubayeva (CEO) alongside partner Aizada Marat, has raised over $5.5 million in venture financing. The rounds drew backing from top Silicon Valley venture funds including Village Global (backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg), Bling Capital, NFX, and NEA.
Automating Complex US Immigration Filings with Generative AI
Securing specialized United States work visas and immigrant petitions—such as O-1 (for individuals with extraordinary ability), EB-1, and EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver)—historically demanded hundreds of manual paralegal hours, thousands of evidentiary exhibits, and fees surpassing $15,000 for boutique law firms. Alma fundamentally transformed this pipeline through purpose-built generative AI:
- Instant Objective Qualification Scoring: Proprietary AI models ingest candidate CVs, academic publications, citation metrics, registered patents, and media coverage to evaluate precise criteria match against United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicative guidelines;
- Algorithmic Drafting of Legal Petitions and Expert Testimonials: The platform auto-generates comprehensive petition briefs, persuasive expert letters of support, and exhaustive evidentiary dossiers substantiating the applicant’s unique national and economic impact;
- Supervision by Elite Licensed Immigration Attorneys: Every AI-drafted immigration filing undergoes rigorous end-to-end review and sign-off by top-tier licensed US immigration attorneys.
98%+ Approval Rate and Enterprise Traction
Through its hybrid “AI + veteran attorney” paradigm, Alma achieved an unprecedented petition approval rate exceeding 98%. The platform’s customer roster includes thousands of machine learning engineers, scientific researchers, Y Combinator and Techstars founders, as well as staff engineers from leading Silicon Valley technology giants. The $5.5 million in capital is allocated toward enterprise-grade workflows for tech corporations managing global specialized talent immigration.
