Skalar, a New York-based fintech company, has publicly launched with an undisclosed seed round led by Monashees and a debt financing partnership with General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund. Co-founded by CEO Sebastián Cárdenas and COO Daniel Castrillón, the company has committed to finance more than $125 million in sales and marketing spending across seven technology companies over the next twelve months. Its model supplies customer acquisition capital without requiring equity or fixed repayment dates.
A Repayment Model Linked to Customer Revenue
Skalar supplies capital to technology companies for sales and marketing initiatives and is repaid solely from revenue generated by the customers those efforts acquire. The company typically collects around 1.1 times the amount it provides, allowing the borrower to keep remaining customer revenue after that limit is reached. If acquired customers cancel early or underperform, Skalar absorbs the shortfall rather than demanding full repayment from the startup.
How the Structure Differs From Venture Debt
Skalar's approach is distinct from venture debt, which requires repayment on a fixed schedule and can pressure companies to preserve cash instead of pursuing new growth. It also differs from revenue based financing, which typically advances money against contracts or revenue that already exists. Skalar instead underwrites future revenue from customer acquisition before that income materializes and accepts part of the risk that it may not fully arrive.
Early Commitments and Target Clients
Skalar targets technology companies that spend between $100,000 and $3 million monthly on customer acquisition and have a consistent record of earning more from those customers than they spend. Its first seven customers include four or five Latin American companies and several United States businesses, with plans to work with no more than fifteen companies per year. Since its January inception, the firm has committed more than $125 million to sales and marketing spending across seven companies over twelve months.
Origins with Monashees and General Catalyst
Skalar grew out of Cárdenas's work as an entrepreneur in residence at Monashees, where he introduced portfolio companies to General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund model. General Catalyst pioneered a similar financing approach but increasingly focused on larger transactions, leaving room to serve smaller technology companies. The seed round led by Monashees also included Nido Ventures and several angel investors, though Skalar did not disclose the round's size.
Underwriting Discipline and Founder Risks
Skalar analyzes detailed transaction data to assess customer acquisition costs, retention, and lifetime revenue before providing capital. The firm sets minimum revenue targets and can require faster repayment or stop additional funding if results fall below expectations. However, its agreements do not give Skalar the right to seize company assets in a default, and borrowers are not required to maintain specific financial benchmarks.
A Broader Market Opportunity
Cárdenas sees a long term opportunity beyond the small group of startups able to attract institutional venture capital. Companies that struggle to raise venture funding because of location, industry, or growth rate may still qualify for Skalar financing based on financial performance. The founders envision offering similar products for other business expenses that produce sufficiently predictable returns in the future.
Skalar is entering the market with a distinctive model that sits between equity and traditional debt, using customer revenue as the repayment mechanism. Its early commitments and backing from Monashees and General Catalyst suggest institutional interest in this form of growth financing. The company's longer term test will be whether its underwriting can sustain realized repayment rates across its first cohort while expanding access to capital for a wider set of technology businesses.
Source: CrunchBase