# Tempo Builds AI-Powered Visual IDE for React with $5M Seed Funding

**Author:** Zero G Talent
**Published:** 2026-11-08
**Category:** design
**Tags:** yc-hiring, developer tools, react, artificial intelligence, software engineering, product design

[Read on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/blog/tempo-builds-ai-powered-visual-ide-for-react-with-5m-seed-funding)

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[Tempo](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/tempo) is a Toronto-based software company developing an AI-powered visual editor for React codebases. Founded in 2023, the eight-person startup graduated from Y Combinator's Summer 2023 batch and has raised $5M in Seed funding from investors including Paradigm, Norwest Venture Partners, and Golden Ventures. Tempo's platform combines the layout experience of design tools with the under-the-hood capabilities of an integrated development environment, allowing product managers, designers, and engineers to edit production React code visually.

## Founder Backgrounds

The company was founded by CEO [Kevin Michael](https://zerogtalent.com/people/kevin-michael) and CTO [Peter Gokhshteyn](https://zerogtalent.com/people/peter-gokhshteyn). Both co-founders earned degrees from the University of Waterloo and previously served as early engineering leaders at Perpetua prior to its $150M exit, as reported by [BetaKit](https://betakit.com/meet-the-y-combinator-summer-2023-cohort-startups-with-canadian-connections/). [Kevin Michael](https://zerogtalent.com/people/kevin-michael) previously worked on the Visual Studio team at Microsoft and as a product fellow at Social Capital, while [Peter Gokhshteyn](https://zerogtalent.com/people/peter-gokhshteyn) worked as a software developer at Google, Bloomberg, and Zynga.

## Platform Infrastructure and Scale

According to [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/rewriting-the-relationship-code-tempo-labs-aws-and-the-power-of-three/), Tempo migrated its core infrastructure to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) and Amazon Bedrock, achieving a 5X reduction in cloud computing costs while expanding to more than 100,000 users. The platform enables development teams to reuse 75% to 80% of designer-generated code, reducing quality assurance overhead and accelerating feature deployment.

In a video interview on [Ignite: Conversations on Startups, VC, and Society](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgYWrh9YWs), [Kevin Michael](https://zerogtalent.com/people/kevin-michael) explained that Tempo was built to address integration limitations in legacy low-code tools by operating directly on existing production repositories optimized for Vite and Tailwind. During a hackathon featured on [Contra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMT5IvwNEwI), Tempo collaborated with AWS to provide cloud resources for designers and engineers building custom applications on top of live codebases.

## Team Growth and Engineering Roles

Tempo is recruiting for engineering and design roles across its Toronto headquarters and remote locations. The technical team is hiring a [Software Engineer, Full Stack (In-Person - Toronto)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/software-engineer-full-stack-in-person-toronto-68263) to build platform features across the stack using TypeScript and Node, as well as a [Software Engineer, LLMs & AI Agents (In-Person - Toronto)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/software-engineer-llms-ai-agents-in-person-toronto-68264) focused on optimizing AI agent workflows and prompt engineering tools.

On the product team, Tempo is hiring a Toronto-based [Founding Product Designer](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/founding-product-designer-83825) to lead interface design and produce production-ready React and TypeScript components, along with an entry-level [Product Designer - Remote](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/product-designer-remote-63560) to design user interfaces and experiences for the visual IDE.

## Open Roles at Tempo

| Role | Location | Work Mode | Salary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Product Designer - Remote](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/product-designer-remote-63560) | Remote | Remote | $20,000 - $30,000 USD |
| [Software Engineer, Full Stack (In-Person - Toronto)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/software-engineer-full-stack-in-person-toronto-68263) | Toronto, ON, CA | Onsite | $160,000 - $200,000 CAD |
| [Software Engineer, LLMs & AI Agents (In-Person - Toronto)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/software-engineer-llms-ai-agents-in-person-toronto-68264) | Toronto, ON, CA | Onsite | $160,000 - $200,000 CAD |
| [Founding Product Designer](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/tempo/founding-product-designer-83825) | Main Office - Toronto | Onsite | $125,000 - $200,000 CAD |

[See all open roles at Tempo](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/tempo)

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*Source: [Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com), the job board for space, defense, AI, robotics and frontier-tech companies.*