Tessl, a startup led by Snyk founder Guy Podjarny, has raised $125 million in funding, valuing the company at $750 million. Tessl aims to transform software development by allowing developers to focus on what they want built, while AI takes care of the actual coding and maintenance.
Why it matters: The funding—led by Index Ventures, with participation from Accel, GV, and boldstart ventures—signals a growing shift in how software is created. Tessl wants to make software development more accessible, productive, and maintainable by replacing the traditional “code-centric” approach with what it calls “AI Native Software Development.” This means developers express their vision in natural language, while AI handles the complex implementation, maintenance, and improvements.
What you should know:
- Tessl raised $100 million in Series A funding, along with an unannounced $25 million seed round from earlier this year.
- Tessl's platform—planned for early 2025—opens a waitlist today for early adopters. It will allow developers to specify software needs, and AI will do the rest.
- Tessl describes this shift as moving from “code-centric” to “spec-centric” software development, focusing on human creativity while letting AI handle the implementation.
The vision: Guy Podjarny, Tessl’s CEO, believes this AI-driven approach will fundamentally change software development by making it faster, more accessible, and easier to maintain.
"We're creating a new paradigm where humans express what they want to build, and AI handles the implementation," Podjarny said.
Zoom out: The promise is that AI Native Software Development will let teams build software in natural language rather than writing code. This means more people—including those without technical skills—can participate in the software creation process. It also automates time-consuming maintenance tasks, freeing up developers to focus on problem-solving and designing better solutions.
Context: Podjarny previously built Snyk, a developer security platform that became a multi-billion dollar company. His experience tackling code vulnerabilities at scale led him to see how AI could simplify and transform the entire software lifecycle—from initial concept to long-term maintenance.
The future outlook: Tessl’s platform aims to support popular languages like Java, JavaScript, and Python, and potentially work alongside existing AI coding assistants, including GitHub Copilot and others. This extensibility is a key reason why investors are optimistic about Tessl’s potential to redefine the software development landscape.
What’s next: Tessl is expected to launch in early 2025, and is already opening up its platform for developers to join the waitlist. With this funding, Tessl will expand its team, focusing on AI research, engineering, product, and developer relations to bring AI Native Software Development to life.