Nozomio founder Arlan Rakhmetzhanov has successfully raised $1 million in a pre-seed round, with investor interest exceeding the required amount.
The round closed just five days after Arlan arrived in London. Arlan dropped out of school in his final year and moved to the UK to participate in the Entrepreneurs First accelerator program.
Nozomio is building a platform for programmers: the platform allows artificial intelligence agents to independently understand code, perform tasks, and speed up routine workflows. The company's first agent, Nia, works as an AI engineer on any codebase — understanding project structures and answering technical questions.
The lead investor in the investment round was LocalGlobe, one of Europe's most successful venture capital funds. LocalGlobe has previously backed unicorn startups such as Figma, Revolut, Wise, and Robinhood.
The project was also invested by Nurdaulet Bazilbekov, founder of the Eurasian Hub Ventures venture club, who joined the team as a strategic and financing advisor to Nozomio.
Arlan Rakhmetzhanov said:
"Investor interest exceeded $1 million, but if I had accepted more investment, I would have had to give up more of my equity stake. There was such an offer from Sequoia Capital, but I politely declined. I had just landed in London, I shared on LinkedIn that I had dropped out of school and moved here, and it all started from there. The investors themselves contacted me."
Nurdaulet Bazilbekov noted that Arlan's success is a rarity even for developed Western ecosystems:
"In just a few days, all the leading investors in London found out about Arlan. I know successful startups from Kazakhstan (Remofirst, Causaly, DNA Payments, etc.), but this is the first time that one has just arrived and immediately attracted the attention of the industry. This event proves that founders from our region can think globally and gain international support from day one."
The investment round was structured according to the classic SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) model. In this model, initial financing is provided, but the equity stake is determined after the company's valuation is completed.
Arlan plans to use the funds raised to hire backend programmers, expand its technical infrastructure, and relocate to San Francisco.
