Alma co-founder had such a bad immigration experience she founded a legal AI startup to fix it

 

When Aizada Marat moved from New York to California in 2018 with her husband, KODIF co-founder and CEO Chyngyz Dzhumanazarov, she faced a grueling immigration experience that would ultimately inspire her to create Alma, an AI-powered legal tech startup. Marat's journey underscores the complexities of the immigration process and highlights the need for innovative solutions in legal services.

 


Aizada Marat's Journey

Born in Kyrgyzstan, Aizada Marat came to the United States at the age of 17 through the FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) program sponsored by the U.S. State Department. After graduating from Harvard, she moved to London due to immigration issues. In 2018, Marat relocated to California when her husband was admitted to Stanford Business School, and she accepted a job offer at the prestigious law firm Cooley.

 


The Immigration Ordeal

Upon moving to California, Marat needed to sort out her immigration status. Through a Google search, she found an immigration lawyer in Palo Alto. Unfortunately, the lawyer provided incorrect advice on when she could file for work authorization, resulting in Marat being unable to work for over a year and unable to leave the country.

 


Impact on Career

The delay in work authorization had significant repercussions for Marat. Despite having a job offer from Cooley, she was unable to start working due to the visa complications. This experience was not only frustrating but also detrimental to her career progression.

 

Igniting the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Marat's ordeal with the immigration process ignited an entrepreneurial fire within her. After eventually working at Cooley for three years and then transitioning to McKinsey as a management consultant, she couldn't shake the memory of her immigration struggles. This led her to think about why immigration legal services were often of poorer quality and how they could be improved.

 

Understanding the Legal Market

Marat discovered that immigration law is highly fragmented, with 10% of the market dominated by a single law firm while the remaining 90% is shared among over 20,000 firms. This fragmentation often results in inconsistent and inadequate legal services for individuals navigating the immigration process.

 

The Birth of Alma

Determined to address these issues, Marat set out to create a company that would develop software to help immigration attorneys deliver better services. After four to five months of selling this software to five immigration law firms, she and her team decided to provide immigration services directly. In October 2023, Alma was launched, co-founded by Marat along with other immigrants, including former Uber engineering manager Shuo Chen and former Step product manager Assel Tuleubayeva.

 

Alma's Mission and Services

Alma aims to simplify the visa process for technologists, founders, and researchers by offering personal legal advisors, expediting document processing, and digitally organizing the entire process. Like other companies in this space, such as Migrun, Boundless, and Lawfully, Alma seeks to fast-track international talent into America’s tech ecosystem.

 

Leveraging AI and Technology

Alma sets itself apart by leveraging proprietary technology to provide high-quality services faster than its competitors. The startup employs its own immigration attorneys and uses AI to automate repetitive tasks, allowing lawyers to focus on creating effective strategies for their clients.

 

High-Quality Immigration Services

Marat believes that immigrants deserve high-quality services because so much depends on the immigration attorney they choose. By automating mundane tasks, Alma enables lawyers to provide better strategies and achieve higher approval rates for their clients' visa applications.

 

Funding and Support

Alma has raised $5.1 million in combined seed and pre-seed funding, with backing from notable investors such as Bling Capital, Forerunner, Village Global, NFX, Conviction, MVP, NEA, and Silkroad Innovation Hub. This funding will primarily be used to hire new talent for product and technology development.

 

Future Prospects

Looking ahead, Alma plans to continue developing its product and technology to further improve immigration services. The company's vision is to create a seamless and efficient immigration process that benefits both clients and attorneys.

 

Alma's Impact on the Tech Ecosystem

By fast-tracking international talent into America's tech scene, Alma is contributing to the growth and innovation of the tech industry. The startup's efforts ensure that talented individuals from around the world can easily integrate into the U.S. tech ecosystem.

 

 

Aizada Marat's journey from a challenging immigration experience to founding Alma highlights the critical need for better immigration services. Alma's mission to simplify and improve the immigration process through AI and technology is a testament to the potential for innovation in legal services. As Alma continues to grow, it aims to make a lasting impact on the immigration landscape and support the integration of international talent into the tech industry.

 

Editor’s Notes:

Aizada Marat's challenging immigration experience and the poor quality of legal services she encountered inspired her to create Alma, aiming to improve the immigration process for others.

 

Alma leverages proprietary technology to provide faster, high-quality immigration services and employs its own immigration attorneys to ensure accuracy and effectiveness.

 

Alma simplifies the visa process by offering personal legal advisors, expediting document processing, and digitally organizing the entire immigration process.

 

Alma uses AI to automate repetitive and mundane tasks, allowing immigration attorneys to focus on creating effective strategies for their clients, leading to higher approval rates.

 

Alma plans to continue developing its product and technology to enhance its services, aiming to create a seamless and efficient immigration process that benefits both clients and attorneys.

Location: Dallas, TX, USA

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