In 2020, KaryaKarsa joined the Accelerating Asia portfolio and Cohort 3 of our flagship program. In 2020, the KaryaKarsa team grew significantly, increasing the creator base 16x, user base 20x, and monthly revenue 8x. Here we talk with Co-Founders Ario Tamat and Aria Rajasa Masna.
KaryaKarsa received investment from our early-stage VC fund and graduated from Cohort 3 of our flagship program. If you’re interested in connecting with KaryaKarsa, investing alongside us, meeting our portfolio companies, or just generally interested in talking to us about startup investing, please reach out and tell us a little bit about yourself.
KaryaKarsa helps creators sell books, comics, audio, video, and other digital goods directly to their fan communities. Using locally relevant payment methods like mobile wallets and minimarkets, KaryaKarsa helps the creator’s journey in becoming a creative business.
Despite the prevalence of various content distribution services from overseas and a willing audience, Indonesian creators are not making money, and audiences cannot pay due to 59% of the population being unbanked. Creators have limited options - get 10% of royalties from traditional book or comic deals, get under $1 per 1000 YouTube views, or navigate sponsor endorsement of which there is unequal access.
KaryaKarsa brings power back to the creators by providing a platform that helps them distribute and monetize their works. By cutting out middlemen, KaryaKarsa can enable deeper relationships between creators and their audiences, and provide an alternate revenue stream.
KaryaKasa works by providing a platform for the creators to showcase their works. This is used to promote the creator’s work to be purchased online or to be followed by their fans directly. KaryaKarsa serves as an enabler tool for the creator to deliver their creativity to a loving audience, and enable the creator to develop a sustainable livelihood. You don’t need to become Taylor Swift to make a living from your work.
As compared to other platforms like Patreon, Facebook, Youtube , our platform is independent. The customer data belongs to the creator and is more secure and safe with a strong database. Secondly , the works are mainly Southeast Asian - we understand the creator and customer better, and recognise that the creator economy here is at a different stage of development, thus needs a different approach, especially in communication, outreach and capacity building.
KaryaKasa has accumulated over $325,000 and more than 15000 creators have joined. Growth is at about 20-30% on average each month, and we are reaching creators and their fans in 3rd and 4th tier cities, where the only entertainment is from mobile phones.
Ario: My background is in the music industry, most notably at Universal Music. I was also part of an indie band and learnt a lot of insights from those experiences. I also did a short stint in Vietnam in the cinema industry, then returned to Indonesia and founded an online radio. Eventually, I founded KaryaKarsa along with Aria.
Aria : My background started from working in big multinational companies in the field of technology for two years. Then, I started creating companised from web design agencies to clothing companies and eventually started my own companies including an online procurement system for corporations. Eventually, I have found what I love to do and that is to help creators achieve their dreams.
We joined the program because we needed some help on how to grow and how to fundraise. We needed a structured method and mentorship. We needed guidance to see the potential causes for the outcome that might not go well. The accelerator was one of the options to help us grow to the next level.
We have seen and heard what Accelerating Asia has done in the ecosystem, and they seemed like a great partner to help us think about the bigger Southeast Asia picture and how to expand to other territories when the time comes.
I followed Amra through LinkedIn. I've been keeping tabs on what she's doing. I couldn't help thinking that these programs look useful and would love to be involved . With my previous startup, I joined a pitch event in Jakarta. During this second cohort, I saw the sessions from different partners that were on site. I talked to Craig and Amra as well. So after I started KaryaKarsa, we thought of accelerators as an option.
We’re certainly happy with what we were able to achieve during the program, as we grew our creator base at least 4x. We also had a better understanding of what fundraising is and what it entails, and learn about non-linear growth.
If we looked back on 2020, we have been able to grow our creator base 16x, our user base 20x, and our monthly revenue 8x.
The VC and fundraising landscape and how to make discussions with VCs and investors more efficient.
They’re a super great team overall, with a program that is very well structured and mindful of the needs of founders. They’re very founder-friendly and truly embody the spirit of “be extremely useful”. The program isn’t just about pitch practice and pushing your growth numbers - they encourage you to build companies of value, and this reflects in the types of startups they accept into the program.
Selection week was interesting as it gave me a very short time to gauge on the founders’ character and their depth of knowledge of their chosen field. It’s definitely not easy judging something like that through one meeting. But I always asked things around what they consider their blindspots (as a way to see if they are aware of personal bias in their work), and I’d love to work with future cohorts in reevaluating their way of thinking in looking at their product and company.
KaryaKarsa received investment from our early-stage VC fund and graduated from Cohort 3 of our flagship program. If you’re interested in connecting with KaryaKarsa, investing alongside us, meeting our portfolio companies, or just generally interested in talking to us about startup investing, please reach out and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Accelerating Asia invests in startups with scalable technology solutions and revenue generating business models that combine purpose with profit.
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