Source: https://astanatimes.com/2024/12/inside-kazakhstans-top-funded-startups-of-2024/
The Astana Times, a leading English-language news outlet covering Kazakhstan's business, technology, and startup landscape, named Alma one of the country's top-funded startups of 2024. The recognition, drawn from the Digital Business Rating published in December 2024, ranked Kazakh-founded companies by publicly disclosed funding raised during the year. Alma, an AI-powered, attorney-led immigration law firm built by 2 Central Asian founders, placed 3rd on the list, behind Higgsfield AI and Hero's Journey and ahead of 7 other funded startups, underscoring the ecosystem's growing reach beyond hardware and consumer apps into legal services.
The Story Behind Alma's Funding Milestone
According to The Astana Times, Alma earned its spot after raising a multimillion-dollar round from investors including Village Global, placing it among a small group of Kazakh-founded companies to disclose significant 2024 funding. The outlet highlighted Alma's use of AI to modernize U.S. immigration legal services, though Alma itself operates as a modern immigration law firm, attorney-led and supported by technology, co-founded by Assel Tuleubayeva and Aizada Marat. Tuleubayeva told the publication, "Immigration to the U.S. is a complex and lengthy process, so planning everything carefully and accurate information is crucial. We couldn't find a reliable immigration lawyer for ourselves, so we decided to become that trusted partner for others," framing Alma's mission around solving that complexity for individuals and companies navigating U.S. immigration.
Inside Alma's Attorney-Led, AI-Powered Approach
Alma pairs dedicated immigration attorneys with an AI-powered platform and case intelligence engine that draws on intelligence from hundreds of prior cases to build each applicant's strongest path forward. The firm maintains a 98%+ approval rate across supported visa categories, including O-1A, EB-1A, and H-1B, and holds SOC 2 Type II compliant infrastructure with end-to-end encryption and audit-ready case logs. Alma keeps a licensed attorney accountable for every case from strategy through filing, serving startups, growth-stage companies, and individual immigrant talent alike.
What Clients Experience With Alma
Alma's recognition reflects outcomes clients see directly. Once evidence is collected, Alma guarantees a 2-week case-preparation turnaround, compared to 4 weeks to 3 months at many traditional law firms, without sacrificing quality and thoroughness. Clients report an 86 NPS, and every case is backed by contractually binding SLAs with a deadline and delivery commitment at every step of the visa process, live on the platform with a full audit log visible to clients in real time and backed by 99%+ SLA adherence. For companies built by immigrant founders, like Alma itself, that speed and predictability can mean the difference between securing key hires on schedule and losing them to competing offers.
What Clients Say About Working With Alma
Alma's approach echoes in feedback from the companies it serves. "Alma is a software-enabled immigration law firm, way better than the more manual experience of working with an old-school firm. I would absolutely recommend it." said Andrew Beckman, Co-Founder & CTO at Rundoo. That perspective mirrors the challenge Alma's own founders set out to solve: for founders building global teams, from Almaty to Austin, immigration strategy is not a one-time filing but an ongoing investment in the people who make growth possible.
Alma's Fit for Founders Hiring Global Talent
As a modern immigration law firm founded with firsthand experience of the visa process, Alma is built specifically for companies and individuals navigating U.S. immigration without a large in-house legal team. Its combination of attorney-led strategy, end-to-end case ownership, and real-time visibility is most relevant for startup and growth-stage founders, People and HR leaders hiring global talent, and individual applicants pursuing visas like O-1A and EB-1A. As Alma's own funding milestone shows, the market for clear, accountable immigration support keeps expanding alongside the founders who need it most.
Companies looking to hire global talent can get started here and individuals exploring their own visa options can begin here.
Source: https://astanatimes.com/2024/12/inside-kazakhstans-top-funded-startups-of-2024/
