Tangled, a code collaboration platform positioning itself as a decentralized alternative to GitHub, has secured $4.5 million in funding. Led by byFounders, the round will help build a new standard for social coding based on developer sovereignty. Founded by brothers Akshay and Anirudh Oppiliappan, the company champions a community-first approach to development.
A New Vision for Social Coding
The founders saw an opportunity after GitHub's acquisition by Microsoft, citing growing complacency and ideological shifts. Concerns over intellectual property, particularly how code is used for AI training, created the need for a change. Tangled was conceived to rebuild social coding from first principles with user control at its core.
A primary motivation for the platform is data sovereignty, offering a European-based alternative where developers retain jurisdictional control. Co-founder Anirudh Oppiliappan noted many are unaware their code on legacy platforms can be used for AI training. Tangled addresses this by enabling users to host code on their own infrastructure.
Decentralization and Community Focus
Tangled introduces a pragmatic approach to decentralization through a feature called "Knots." These lightweight, self-hosted servers allow users to store code on their own systems while federating it into the platform. This distributed model ensures code is not held on a single central server, enhancing autonomy.
The platform is designed to serve indie developers and open-source communities, a demographic the founders feel is underserved by GitHub's enterprise focus. This strategy has attracted over 7,000 users, including academic researchers and student clubs. The company actively fosters its community through platforms like Discord and Bluesky.
Innovating Beyond the Pull Request
To differentiate its product, Tangled has re-engineered the traditional pull request model, which has remained static for over a decade. It introduces "stacked pull requests," a workflow inspired by engineering practices at companies like Meta. This system breaks large changes into small units that can be reviewed independently and efficiently.
This innovative model is built for the modern era of AI-assisted and agentic programming, where code generation is prolific. Built on the open AT Protocol, Tangled allows autonomous agents to seamlessly create repositories and submit code. The platform aims to become the foundational infrastructure for this next generation of software development.
Strategic Investment and Future Roadmap
The €3.8 million ($4.5 million) financing was led by community-focused VC firm byFounders, with Bain Capital Crypto and Antler participating. The company selected investors who align with its open-source philosophy and transparency. The round was further validated by angel investor Thomas Dohmke, the former CEO of GitHub.
According to Jussi Kallasvuo of Antler, Tangled is building critical infrastructure for the European tech ecosystem by addressing the shift from writing to reviewing code at scale. The new capital will scale the platform globally. The roadmap includes a revamped CI system, a GitHub migration tool, and improved search capabilities.
With its new funding and a clear vision, Tangled is poised to challenge the status quo in code collaboration. By prioritizing decentralization, developer sovereignty, and community, the platform is not just an alternative but a rethinking of social coding. It aims to provide the essential infrastructure for the future of human and AI-driven software development.