diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a087bde..280f1bc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ The MATLAB® Engine API for Python® provides a package to integrate MATLA
 MATLAB Engine API for Python can be installed directly from the Python Package Index.
 <!-- MUST_BE_UPDATED_EACH_RELEASE (Search repo for this string) -->
 ```bash
-$ python -m pip install matlabengine==9.12.7
+$ python -m pip install matlabengine==9.12.8a0
 ```
 
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:matlabroot/bin/glnxa64
 MATLAB Engine API for Python can be installed directly from the Python Package Index.
 <!-- MUST_BE_UPDATED_EACH_RELEASE (Search repo for this string) -->
 ```bash
-$ python -m pip install matlabengine==9.12.7
+$ python -m pip install matlabengine==9.12.8a0
 ```
 
 ### macOS
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ setenv DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ${DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH}:matlabroot/bin/maci64
 MATLAB Engine API for Python can be installed directly from the Python Package Index.
 <!-- MUST_BE_UPDATED_EACH_RELEASE (Search repo for this string) -->
 ```bash
-$ python -m pip install matlabengine==9.12.7
+$ python -m pip install matlabengine==9.12.8a0
 ```
 
 ---
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 99af29c..fe425d5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class _MatlabFinder(build_py):
     MATLAB_REL = 'R2022a'
 
     # MUST_BE_UPDATED_EACH_RELEASE (Search repo for this string)
-    MATLAB_VER = '9.12.7' 
+    MATLAB_VER = '9.12.8a0' 
 
     # MUST_BE_UPDATED_EACH_RELEASE (Search repo for this string)
     SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSIONS = set(['3.8', '3.9'])
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ def run(self):
     setup(
         name="matlabengine",
         # MUST_BE_UPDATED_EACH_RELEASE (Search repo for this string)
-        version="9.12.7",
+        version="9.12.8a0",
         description='A module to call MATLAB from Python',
         author='MathWorks',
         license="MathWorks XSLA License",