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Tech Topics In This Article: seed funding, Tennessee startups, Atlanta investors, LegalTech
Atlanta-based Valor Ventures is backing lawyers-turned-entrepreneurs in Memphis looking to help immigration lawyers use generative AI to keep up with their growing caseload.
Visalaw.ai, co-founded by well-known immigration lawyer Greg Siskind and Josh Waddell, announced last week it had raised a $1.6 million seed round from lead investor Valor Ventures, a firm focused on AI and B2B companies in the Southeast.
Gary Peat, General Partner at Valor Ventures, told Hypepotamus that while generative AI is transforming just about every industry, the legal industry needs “real specialization” to ensure that AI tools can be used effectively for legal research, assessment, document drafting, summarization, and visa application construction.
Visalaw.ai is the only AI platform with exclusive access to legal publications from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which represents more than 17,000 immigration law firms. The platform includes a comprehensive library of immigration law resources, combining primary legal texts with AILA’s Practice and Procedures Manual, commonly known as the “Cookbook,” co-authored by Visalaw.ai co-founder Greg Siskind.
The team behind Visalaw.ai see their tool as a way to help firms keep up with a growing number of legal immigration cases each year.
“Among the many AI-driven legal solutions we evaluated, Visalaw.ai stood out due to its focused approach and its impressive adoption by hundreds of immigration law firms already,” Peat added.
“Visalaw.ai is built specifically for immigration law firms, allowing attorneys to dramatically reduce the time required to research and complete complex legal documents,” said Siskind in a press release. “At Siskind Susser PC, we’ve seen up to a 90% reduction in time spent on drafting key filings, including 50+ page EB-1 visa petitions.”
Valor connected with Visalaw.ai in September of last year as they were looking for LegalTech startups with a generative AI focus, Peat added.
Seed stage investments on the national level dipped dramatically in 2024, and Southeast-based startups were certainly not immune from the slowdown in activity. But in 2025, Peat over at Valor Ventures is optimistic about the state of seed stage companies. He pointed out that rational valuations, investments, and burn rates have created an environment that is “better than its been in a very long time.”