Karyakarsa Bags $500,000 Seed Funding from Accelerating Asia, Sketchnote Partners, and Angel Investors

Creator appreciation marketplace Karyakarsa has raised $500,000 or Rp7 billion seed round from Accelerating Asia, Sketchnote Partners, and high-profile angel investors. The company will use the fund to develop new features and explore the regional market.

According to Karyakarsa's Co-Founder and CEO, Ario Tamat, the platform has served more than 35,000 creators, from journalists, models, illustrators, 3D artists, and many more. Karyakarsa also has more than 275,000 registered users as fans/supporters.

“In October alone the number of transactions via the KaryaKarsa platform has increased 60 percent month on month and we’ve increased the number of new creators on the platform by 135 percent. The new funds will enable us to expand our offering and empower more creators to develop sustainable livelihoods. We are grateful for the trust our partners have placed in our vision,” said Ario.

Like Patreon and Tribe, Karyakarsa allows creators to monetize their works by building a fan base. They can sell their creations and get support directly through the platform. Creators will get 90% of the revenue, while the 10% goes for platform fees.

Karyakarsa is founded by Ario Tamat and Aria Rajasa Masna in 2019.

“As second time founders, the KaryaKarsa team has deep experience in scaling a business with the founders also being creatives themselves. They are positioned to take advantage of existing global disaggregation trends and efficiently help creatives monetise their projects. Having grown the value of transactions through the platform 40 percent in October, KaryaKarsa’s traction is set to continue and Accelerating Asia is proud to be an early investor into the company as they build the creative economy in Indonesia,” Craig Bristol Dixon, General Partner of Accelerating Asia said.

To help KaryaKarsa scale, the company and Board have appointed J. P. Ellis as an official advisor. A seasoned Jakarta-based founder, technology executive and policy leader in the financial technology industry, Ellis said, “KaryaKarsa has achieved product-market-fit in a valuable and fast-growing space in the creative economy. Their growth and success are a proxy for Indonesian creative entrepreneurs. I am honoured to join the team as an advisor and excited about what we can accomplish together to benefit the creative economy and the livelihoods of millions of creators and their families.”

NFT initiative

New creator monetization models are constantly being explored, including with Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). Karyakarsa has partnered with crypto-marketplace Tokocrypto to enable creators to sell their works through the NFT Marketplace, TokoMall. Similar initiatives are gaining popularity in the global market.

Several adjustments were implemented, for example locking the NFT price with Rupiah to avoid high fluctuations. Some NFTs can be claimed with physical products.

It's a good sign for Indonesia's creator ecosystem to monetize their (digital) works. A few creators at Karyakarsa can earn Rp30-50 million per month.