Tempest launches with USD $3.2M to revolutionise dev ops

Tempest, a platform created by a former Apple team, has been launched with USD $3.2M in funding to address platform engineering challenges faced by tech businesses.

Most engineering teams traditionally have to choose between utilising fragmented tools or building everything from the ground up, which can be costly and time-consuming. While platforms like Spotify's Backstage offer partial solutions, they often require significant maintenance and setup time.

Tempest aims to counter these issues by providing a complete developer platform that can be implemented in a matter of hours. The platform is designed to help engineering teams deploy software more efficiently, with funding led by Abstract Ventures, and contributions from Box Group, Background Capital, and notable industry figures such as Max Mullen, Jason Chan, and Mike Abbott.

Founders Ken Kouot, Lukasz Jagiello, and Eric Skram, who were previously part of Fleetsmith, acquired by Apple in 2020, started Tempest to solve a persistent challenge in the tech industry. Ken Kouot, Tempest co-founder and CEO, stated, "Poor developer experience isn't just a developer problem—it's an existential business risk. Take a simple feature deployment: when your engineers spend three days wrestling with CI/CD pipelines instead of shipping customer value, that's not just lost engineering hours—it's delayed revenue and missed market opportunities. At Tempest, we're giving developers the foundation they need to deliver innovation at the speed your market demands. In today's environment, streamlined software delivery isn't a nice-to-have—it's the difference between leading your industry and playing catch-up."

Tempest distinguishes itself with a dual approach, combining an internal developer portal for service visibility and a DX platform that offers self-serve workflows and built-in automation. This setup aims to streamline operations without the extensive setup typically required, utilising a rich ecosystem of integrations and a developer-friendly SDK.

Adding to this, Jason Chan, former VP of Information Security at Netflix, remarked, "In my experience, the most effective organizations provide developers with clear, secure pathways—what we now call 'paved roads' and something we introduced early on in my career at Netflix. Tempest makes it easy to implement those pathways, removing the friction that slows down teams and putting security and compliance on autopilot."

According to McKinsey, companies with superior developer platforms grow their revenue significantly faster, yet many firms struggle with the complexities of building these platforms themselves. David Kwon, Partner at Abstract Ventures, noted, "When we met Ken and the Tempest team, we knew they weren't just creating another dev tool—they are building the foundation that future engineering teams will be built on. We believe the Tempest team is creating a best-in-class developer experience, and we are grateful to be supporting them."

Jesse Adametz, Director of Engineering, Infrastructure at Twilio, commented, "Developer Platform roadmaps across the industry are far too similar considering the unique nature of each business they're trying to serve. Tempest takes care of the commonalities, provides opinionated best practice guidance, and lets Engineers get back to innovating solutions their customers crave."

Jake King, founder of Cmd, highlighted the security benefits, stating, "My infrastructure security background has shown me how fragmented deployment tooling can create both operational friction and security vulnerabilities. Tempest has cracked this challenge by delivering a unified platform that combines sound security controls with the flexibility modern development teams demand to move quickly and efficiently."

Max Mullen, co-founder of Instacart, added, "Tempest is the missing developer experience tool that every engineering team needs—which is precisely why I'm so excited to be an investor."

Tempest is now available with transparent pricing and offers a free tier for small teams, making high-grade developer platforms accessible to a broad range of organisations. The platform prioritises self-service capabilities, enabling teams to achieve full developer enablement swiftly.