# James R. Scapa

> James R. Scapa is a Series B investor at Altair backing Software. See 4 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Oct 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Altair](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/altair-engineering)
- Location: Detroit, United States
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: Oct 2024
- Lead investor: 50%
- Last updated: Oct 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-scapa-56a4b527/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/jrscapa

James R. Scapa is a Series B investor at Altair in Detroit focused on Software and Information Technology. James R. Scapa brings more than 35 years of engineering experience to his dual role of Chairman and CEO of Altair Engineering, Inc., a title he has held since the company's inception.In 1985, Mr. Scapa and two partners founded a small consulting activity in the new field of computer-aided-engineering. Today, the company employs over 2,000employees with more than 40 offices throughout 20 countries.Through Mr. Scapa's leadership, the company is now a leading global provider of simulation technology and engineering services that empower client innovation and decision-making.With over 5,000 clients, Altair serves the automotive, aerospace, government and defense, heavy equipment industry sectors as well as the consumer products, ship building, energy, electronics, life sciences, and architecture engineering and construction markets.Prior to establishing Altair, Scapa served as an engineering consultant to the automotive industry, beginning his career with Ford Motor Company in 1978.Scapa holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for James R. Scapa: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/james-r-scapa?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 2 | 50% |
| Information Technology | 2 | 50% |
| SaaS | 1 | 25% |
| Computer | 1 | 25% |
| Internet | 1 | 25% |

12 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series B | 2 | 50% |
| Seed | 1 | 25% |
| Series A | 1 | 25% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 2 | 50% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 25% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Xscape Photonics | Xscape Photonics provides photonic chips for high-speed connections in high-performance computing systems and data centers. The company uses photonics to realize scalable, high-bandwidth, energy-sustainable, and cost-effective solutions that enable the next generation of AI, ML, and simulation hardware. | $44M | Series A | Oct 15, 2024 | https://www.xscapephotonics.com/ |
| Riverlane | Riverlane creates and engineers instruments. With the help of the manufacturers of quantum computers, they put them into practice. New hardware and software tools are needed to regulate intrinsically unstable qubits and completely fix system defects ten billion times or more per second in order to unlock the entire range of quantum computingapplications. | $18.8M | Series B | Apr 24, 2023 | https://riverlane.com |
| Xscape Photonics | Xscape Photonics provides photonic chips for high-speed connections in high-performance computing systems and data centers. The company uses photonics to realize scalable, high-bandwidth, energy-sustainable, and cost-effective solutions that enable the next generation of AI, ML, and simulation hardware. | $10M | Seed | Dec 20, 2022 | https://www.xscapephotonics.com/ |
| Syncari | Syncari is the first Agentic Master Data Management (MDM) platform built for the AI era. Trusted by Fortune 1000 enterprises, Syncari unifies, governs, and synchronizes data in real-time, creating structured, trusted, and AI-ready pipelines for LLMs, copilots, and autonomous agents. By eliminating silos and operationalizing trust at scale, Syncariempowers organizations to accelerate intelligent decision-making and unlock the full potential of their data. Learn more at www.syncari.com. Platform Features: *Agentic MDM Core: Automates data unification, governance, and synchronization across platforms. *Unified Data Architecture: Seamlessly integrates and consolidates data from CRMs, ERPs, and BI tools. *Data Reliability Engine: Advanced AI enhances data quality, consistency, and integrity across systems. *No-Code Flexibility: Simplifies implementation with intuitive, no-code tools, empowering data teams and reducing reliance on IT. |  | Series B |  | https://syncari.com |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Amadeus Capital Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/amadeus-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Cambridge Innovation Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cambridge-innovation-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Cisco Investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cisco-investments) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Molten Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/draper-esprit) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Fathom Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fathom-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [IAG Capital Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/iag-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Altair

VC Fund · Troy, United States

Altair Engineering, Inc. provides enterprise analytics, engineering, and on-demand computing software technologies. Its technology optimizes the analysis, management, and visualization of business and engineering information. The company's products include HyperWorks, an enterprise simulation solution for design exploration anddecision-making; and PBS GridWorks, a software environment for grid, cluster, and on-demand computing. It also provides product development consultancy services, business intelligence software solutions, and solid state lighting products, as well as develops and markets industrial design/styling software. The company serves automotive, aerospace, government and defense, heavy equipment, consumer products, life and earth sciences, oil and gas, and financial services industries. It sells its products through resellers and distributors in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Russia, Asia, and Australia. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. It has regional offices and locations in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States.

5 contacts available at Altair.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Carlos Labra | Senior Manager, EDEM Business Development | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/carlos-labra |
| Dave Simon | Chief Administrative Officer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dave-simon-5bec |
| James E. Brancheau | CTO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/james-e-brancheau |
| James R. Scapa | Founder, Chairman & CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/james-r-scapa |
| Jeffery Brennan | SVP & Global Healthcare Business | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jeffery-brennan |

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### Similar stage
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- [General Catalyst](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/general-catalyst-partners) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does James R. Scapa invest in?

James R. Scapa invests primarily in Software, Information Technology and SaaS startups, most often at Series B and Seed stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact James R. Scapa?

Public channels for James R. Scapa include LinkedIn and X (Twitter). For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### When did James R. Scapa last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for James R. Scapa closed in Oct 2024. Shizune tracks 4 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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