Rasa Legal, a legal technology company focused on making criminal record clearance simple and affordable, has raised $5 million in a late seed funding round led by Rethink Education, with participation from Social Finance, Halogen Ventures, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and other investors.
The Salt Lake City-based company plans to use the new capital to expand its leadership team, accelerate product development, and scale its criminal record sealing and expungement services across the United States.
Founded by attorney and former public defender Noella Sudbury, Rasa Legal leverages technology to streamline the process of sealing or expunging criminal records under applicable state laws. The platform addresses a major national challenge: an estimated one in three Americans has a criminal record, which can limit access to employment, housing, education, and other opportunities.
Since launching its platform in September 2022, more than 26,000 people have used Rasa’s tools to review their records and determine whether they are eligible for clearance. To date, more than 5,000 cases have been successfully cleared through the company’s services.
Rasa Legal initially launched in Utah and has since expanded to Arizona and Pennsylvania. The company’s expansion into Pennsylvania, including early work in Pittsburgh, helped attract investment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, which focuses on advancing economic opportunity across the region.
The company’s platform includes a mobile-friendly eligibility tool that provides users with instant legal information about their criminal record and potential eligibility for sealing or expungement under state law. In addition to record-clearance services, the platform connects users to scholarships, education programs, health insurance resources, and fair-chance employment opportunities.
Rasa Legal’s technology has gained national recognition within the legal industry. The American Bar Association has highlighted the platform, and it was named Best New Legal Tech Startup in America by the American Legal Technology Awards. The company has also partnered with NBA teams to host community record-clearance clinics and has collaborated with employers such as Flagger Force to connect individuals with records to fair-chance hiring opportunities.
Sudbury previously led Utah’s Clean Slate campaign, which resulted in automated record clearance relief for more than 500,000 residents. Her work has earned national recognition, including being named Woman of the Year by Utah Business Magazine and one of the Top 200 most dynamic female founders in America by Inc. Magazine.
Rasa Legal believes that expanding access to record clearance can have a significant economic and social impact. According to the company’s estimates, people without criminal records are 63 percent more likely to receive a job interview, and wages increase by more than 20 percent within one year after a record is cleared.
KEY QUOTES:
“I started this company four years ago, with a dream to build an app to help people clear their criminal records and access new opportunities in life. This fundraise is a key milestone for our company, and I am excited to see how these new strategic partners and dollars will help us scale our impact across America. This round gives us the fuel to move from proving the model to scaling it. We believe technology can dramatically expand access to justice and new opportunity — and this is just the beginning.”
Noella Sudbury, Founder and CEO, Rasa Legal
“Rasa sits at the intersection of education, workforce access, and justice. By combining technology with legal expertise, the team is building scalable infrastructure that removes barriers to education, employment, and opportunity. We’re proud to lead this round and support their national expansion.”
Amy Nelson, Partner, Rethink Education
“Roughly thirty percent of Americans have a criminal record, representing a significant and often overlooked portion of our country’s people. Helping people clear their records and get into the workforce strengthens our economy and reduces homelessness and recidivism by giving people lawful pathways to support their families and rebuild their lives. Rasa Legal is positioned as the most credible technology to tackle this issue and Halogen couldn’t be more excited to double down on this investment.”
Jesse Draper, Founding Partner, Halogen Ventures
“We aim to put capital to work in ways that expand opportunity and create measurable, positive outcomes for individuals and communities. Rasa Legal’s technology-enabled approach to record clearance directly addresses one of the greatest barriers to economic mobility — access to meaningful career pathways.”
Vinesh Kapil, Director of Impact Investments, Social Finance
