Every developer writes code in their own unique style. Even with best practices and solid documentation, understanding someone else’s work can still feel like a puzzle. That’s where Unblocked comes in — an AI assistant designed to help developers quickly make sense of any codebase.
Dennis Pilarinos, the founder of Unblocked, knows this problem well. He’s held senior roles at Microsoft and Amazon, where he worked on Azure and AWS. Later, he launched Buddybuild, a platform for continuous integration. Apple acquired it in 2018, and Pilarinos spent the next two years building tools for Xcode Cloud.
He saw firsthand how painful it can be for developers to find answers. “It’s time-consuming and frustrating,” he explained. That frustration sparked the idea for Unblocked — a tool that turns a company’s code, docs, and conversations into instant answers for developers.
Unblocked plugs into platforms like Slack, Jira, Confluence, Google Drive, and Notion. Developers can ask questions such as, “Where are user metrics defined?” or “Who made changes to this module?” The assistant quickly pulls context and provides helpful insights. It’s not just smart — it’s fast.
The tool also helps teams identify the right person to ask when more detail is needed. For example, if a developer wants to understand a legacy system, Unblocked can point them to the original author.
To strengthen security, Unblocked includes admin controls. Setup is easy for IT teams. The company is also expanding its reach by integrating with tools like Cursor and Lovable to enhance code explainability.
And they’re not stopping there. Unblocked is working on new features like Autonomous CI Triage. This tool helps test code across different scenarios — without manual input.
Companies such as Drata, AppDirect, TravelPerk, and Big Cartel already use Unblocked. At Drata, engineers reportedly save 1–2 hours each week by avoiding repetitive questions and deep dives into confusing code.
To fuel further growth, Unblocked has raised $20 million in Series A funding. The round was led by B Capital and Radical Ventures. It brings their total funding to $30 million. Previous backers include Amplify Partners, First Round Capital, and XYZ Capital.
Rob Toews from Radical Ventures believes Unblocked will become more valuable as AI writes more code. In his view, future software development will bring new challenges. One of the biggest? No one will know exactly why a piece of code was written — or what it was supposed to do.
Just like enterprise search tools such as Glean help teams organize internal knowledge, Unblocked is helping developers bring order to code chaos.
As AI becomes more central to software creation, tools like Unblocked will be key to making that software usable and maintainable.
