Flipkart veteran Anil Goteti’s Scapia raises $9 million led by Matrix Partners

Anil Goteti_CEO_Scapia (1)

Scapia, the travel credit card startup launched by Flipkart’s former senior vice president Anil Goteti, has raised $9 million in its seed funding round led by Matrix Partners India despite a slowdown in funding activity prevailing in the market.

The round saw participation from Singapore-based Tanglin Venture Partners, Binny Bansal’s 3STATE Ventures and other angel investors such as Keki Mistry (CEO, HDFC Ltd).

The startup is looking to utilise the funds to scale operations and invest in technological capabilities, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Bengaluru-headquartered Scapia was in stealth mode over the last year and was launched on June 15. It offers a co-branded credit card and an app for customers to turn their daily expenses into rewards. These rewards turn into Scapia coins which can be utilised to book hotels, and flights online.

“Millennials, with their considerable interest in travel, are looking for a primary card that can effectively reward them with travel benefits and perks. In addition, they want a delightful app with transparency and service that they can trust,” said Goteti.

Goteti added that he sees a massive opportunity for Scapia where less than 5 percent of the population currently have credit cards and India is projected to have 200 million credit cards in circulation by 2030.

In 2021, Goteti founded Protonn, a platform built for independent professionals like lawyers and graphic designers to launch their businesses online or create content.

Interestingly, Protonn also raised around $9 million from investors Matrix India, 021 Capital and Tanglin Venture Partners and prominent angel investors like Binny Bansal, Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, and Kunal Shah of Cred.

However, Goteti shut down its business and returned the capital to its investors in 2022 as it was not able to find the right product-market fit (PMF) and expand in the market.

Scapia’s revenue model is two-fold: the firm will be earning a percentage of commission from hotels and airlines’ when booked through Scapia’s app and will be earning a commission from the co-partnered bank for getting more customers. Federal Bank will be responsible for the credit and underwriting.

Scapia competes with the likes of fintech firms like Niyo, OneCard and Uni.

“We’re big believers in transaction credit and creating unique user journeys combining commerce and financing. Scapia has created one such user journey, enabling new travel experiences through a fintech suite of products, and a business model traversing both these sectors,” said Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director of Matrix Partners India.