Scape turns a YC email-support tool into an AI inbox, raising $3.2M at 23

Stockholm startup selling an AI-native email inbox that pre-drafts replies, prepares attachments and surfaces only the emails that need attention.

Professionals need an email interface purpose-built for work, not another chatbot or Gmail plugin, and drafting replies in advance will make them stay.

$3.2M from Y Combinator, General Catalyst and FundersClub, plus angel investors.

Melvin Hagberg founded the company while in Y Combinator's summer 2024 batch as a 21-year-old solo founder. It began as a customer support tool for email. He then realised the same tool could fix his own frustration with email and pivoted it into Scape.

Elis Hodzic, who first backed the company as an investor, joined as co-founder in 2025. The product shows only emails that need attention, organised by custom labels such as Customers and Hiring, and hides notifications and newsletters by default. Drafts can include attachments Scape creates or edits, learned from the inbox and from meetings captured by its local notetaker.

On 2026-07-24 Scape emerged from stealth with early access at scape.app and a five-person team in Stockholm, planning more engineering and product hires.

Answering one client email can mean reading old threads, checking meeting notes, filling forms elsewhere and tracking replies.

Email interfaces have barely changed in 25 years, per the Tech.eu report.

The founder's own support tool exposed the pain, which led to the pivot.

Y Combinator partner Gustaf Alströmer said he had seen hundreds of startups try email and nothing like this team.

A tool built for one narrow job can reveal a bigger problem you personally have; Scape bet on rebuilding the inbox itself rather than adding AI around Gmail.

As of 2026-07-24 Scape was in early access with five people in Stockholm, hiring in engineering and product. Usage and revenue were not disclosed; the traction claim comes from a YC partner's quote.