Scape Challenges Gmail with AI-Powered Smart Mailbox

Scape: A New Vision for Email

The young company Scape, specializing in messaging solutions, was founded in Stockholm and currently employs five people. With funding of $3.2 million, Scape aims to reinvent the inbox through artificial intelligence. Scape's desktop application utilizes a memory of previous messages and meeting transcriptions to suggest relevant responses. Gustaf Alströmer, a partner at Y Combinator, believes that Scape has the potential to draw users away from Gmail.

For a long time, email has been viewed as a space where work accumulates inexorably. Two 23-year-old Swedes are now asking the question: what if the inbox could perform certain tasks itself? This vision drives Scape, a messaging application designed to manage the work buried in emails. Gustaf Alströmer is convinced that this approach could encourage users to abandon Gmail.

Promising Funding and an Early Access Strategy

Scape is preparing to open a waitlist for early access to its service after raising $3.2 million from Y Combinator, General Catalyst, FundersClub, and other investors. According to Business Insider, new users will be introduced in successive waves.

Gustaf Alströmer stated in a press release: “It is painfully obvious that AI is going to transform email. Once people start using the product, they simply don’t go back to Gmail.” This bold claim comes in an industry where many startups have failed despite innovative designs. Scape's founder, Melvin Hagberg, argues that these failures were due to the technological limitations of the time, which restricted the possibilities for transforming email clients.

AI at the Heart of Scape's Innovation

The emergence of AI agents capable of acting on behalf of users has opened new perspectives, according to Hagberg. Unlike others, Scape is not just looking to speed up email writing but aims to manage all the tasks that emails impose.

During a demonstration for Business Insider, Melvin Hagberg illustrated how Scape works. When a potential client asked whether they should join the waitlist or schedule a call, Scape suggested four responses based on message history. After selecting the call option, the application generated a response with a suggested time based on the user's calendar.

Intelligent Task Management by AI

Scape can also use transcriptions from its built-in meeting recorder to remember past discussions. For example, the application was able to locate a purchase order, fill in missing information for a specific client, and prepare a response email that Hagberg could review before sending. Scape does not take the initiative to send messages, leaving the user in control, especially when decisions are made based on years of private messaging.

Users can interact with Scape via an integrated chatbot, asking, for example, to create labels to track emails for a project, draft variations of the same message for multiple recipients, or remember management preferences for similar emails in the future.

A Subscription-Based Business Model

Scape plans to monetize its service through subscriptions, although pricing has not yet been announced. Melvin Hagberg developed this idea after creating a similar system for a small group of workers. After leaving his position as a technology lead at an e-commerce startup, he created software for customer support agents, allowing them to go beyond simply responding to tickets.

In 2025, Hagberg joined Y Combinator, realizing that his concept could address many frustrations related to email. He then pivoted his company to target a much larger market.

Support from Influential Tech Figures

Scape now has a second co-founder, Elis Hodzic, and three employees, all based in Stockholm. The startup has attracted attention from influential figures in Swedish tech, such as Sebastian Knutsson, co-founder of the game developer behind Candy Crush, and Max Junestrand, whose startup Legora is one of the fastest-growing legal tech companies. Other angel investors include employees from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Ramp.

A Competitive but Promising Market

Scape is tackling an already crowded market. Superhuman has managed to create a loyal community thanks to its speed, while Google continues to enhance Gmail with Gemini features. Melvin Hagberg asserts that these applications merely help users manage their emails, whereas Scape aims to do the work directly within the inbox, hoping to loosen Google's grip.