Tech titans Tembo and Fireroad stake claim in the Silicon Heartland

Ryan Hays, UC executive vice president and chief innovation and strategy officer, expressed his elation at having serial entrepreneurs Ry Walker and Tim Metzner as partners of the 1819 Innovation Hub.

"Ry and Tim are trailblazers," Hays said. "Their passion for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship is truly contagious. By building their next breakthrough vision here at 1819 and the CID, they will make all of us decidedly better."

Tembo, founded by Walker in 2022, after exiting Cincinnati unicorn Astronomer, has rapidly ascended to prominence with its visionary approach to database management. Last year, Tembo anchored its headquarters in 1819, underscoring a steadfast commitment to the innovative ecosystem thriving within the hub.

Walker, emphasizing data democratization, said, "With Tembo, you don’t have to be a database expert to build an expert database.” As an example, he pointed to the company’s recently launched managed Postgres service, Tembo Cloud.

“Tembo Cloud is a developer-centric, fully extensible, fully managed, secure and scalable Postgres service,” Walker said. “It’s the largest curated repository of seamlessly installable extensions, which offers our clients a powerful tool to diversify their applications of Postgres.” 

Fireroad is the brainchild of Metzner and Walker, who emerged in 2023 as a formidable platform of companies dedicated to fostering innovation at every stage:

• The Fireroad Foundry collaborates with founders during their emergent stages, guiding the swift testing of ideas, developing minimum viable products (MVPs) and pursuing product-market fit.
• Fireroad HoldCo invests in existing businesses, actively implementing technology, automation and proven processes to catalyze growth.
• Fireroad Ventures focuses on early-stage tech companies led by visionary founders.

Tembo and Fireroad join a lineup of global powerhouses inside the UC 1819 Innovation Hub, including Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank and Western & Southern. The 1819 Innovation Hub, strategically positioned in the Cincinnati Innovation District, is a corporate crossroads and startup incubator staking a claim as the Center for the Silicon Heartland.