1819 startup builds AI engineer to help developers code
Tembo’s agentic AI technology transforms engineering team operations
It’s been a busy year at Tembo, a rapidly growing tech startup that helps software developers deliver products more effectively.
From its home base at the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub, Tembo’s team has focused on developing an AI agent that provides quality pull requests for software development.
The significance of Tembo’s new technology is likely clear to most software developers and other collaborators with technical expertise. Its latest tool acts as an AI teammate by monitoring systems, hunting bugs, optimizing databases and shipping features while freeing engineers to focus on higher-value, more creative projects.
Tembo’s journey toward today
Tembo was founded in 2022 as a Postgres developer platform and soon began to draw attention as one of Cincinnati’s hottest startups. The company moved into an office at the 1819 Innovation Hub to tap into the building’s entrepreneurial energy.
Sylvie O'Connor, Tembo's head of customer success. Photo/Sylvie O'Connor
“Being at 1819 means we’re surrounded by people who are innovative and share the dream of creating,” says Sylvie O’Connor, Tembo’s head of customer success. “It’s an environment that is lively and welcoming … there’s a strong sense of momentum at 1819.”
In the heart of the Cincinnati Innovation District, Tembo’s team began shaping their next big idea: an AI agent designed to clean up inefficient code, enhance new features and squash bugs all at once. What’s more, they envisioned it working seamlessly across all types of technology stacks.
After months of design, coding and testing, Tembo’s developers brought their vision to life. The AI engineering teammate is now being rolled out. “The new Tembo is an AI-powered engineer that monitors your tech stack and generates pull requests to fix issues proactively,” O’Connor says. “It’s not just telling you what’s wrong; it’s fixing it. It’s also taking care of whatever task you assign it.”
Unlocking engineering capacity
The recent upgrade from Tembo solves one of software developers’ biggest headaches: wasting valuable time debugging instead of creating innovative new features.
“Every engineering team experiences the challenge of finding time to fix bugs while managing a dynamic, never-ending backlog,” O’Connor says. “The issue is costly and interrupts deep product work. Tembo solves this by executing the grunt work of software upkeep, or any engineering task, with quality code.”
In other words, Tembo aims to be an AI teammate that takes on the tasks developers rarely have bandwidth for. By offloading routine, time-consuming work, it empowers engineers to focus their energy on high-impact innovation.
[Tembo] is the first product we've seen that can truly act as an AI teammate for software development.
Sylvie O'Connor Head of customer success, Tembo
Tembo is breaking boundaries with the rollout of its new, agentic tool. “We’ve seen humans prompt AI to generate code before,” O’Connor says. “But Tembo closes the loop: it takes care of tasks end-to-end — from assignment to execution — directly in your source control system. It’s the first product we’ve seen that can truly act as an AI teammate for software development.”
Tembo clearly stands on the leading edge of Cincinnati’s innovation ecosystem from its office at 1819. With its new AI agent, the company continues to rank alongside building partners like Procter & Gamble, Fifth Third Bank and Microsoft as a business that’s boldly crafting the future.
Featured image at top: View into Tembo's office at the 1819 Innovation Hub. Photo/Stephen Kenney
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
1819 startup builds AI engineer to help developers code
July 23, 2025
Tembo, an AI-first engineering startup based at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub, recently rolled out a pioneering AI agent to boost software engineering throughput.
Ohio ranked America’s 5th best state for business
August 27, 2025
CNBC ranked Ohio as a top 5 state for business in 2025, and recent reports name Cincinnati as the Buckeye State’s destination of choice for global companies and startups.
An inside look at innovation as it happens
September 8, 2025
Kao USA Inc., a leading provider of beauty and personal care products, traveled to UC’s 1819 Learning Lab to accelerate one of its teams’ innovation strategies. We’ll take you behind the scenes at the session.