USS Networks, a content network company based in Jakarta, announced today that it has secured pre-series A funding from a couple of high-profile investors for an undisclosed amount. The funding round was led by SALT Ventures, with others like Tokopedia and OCBC NISP Ventura also taking part in it.
USS Networks started out as a sneakers event called the Urban Sneaker Society in 2017. USS Networks itself was first established in 2019, and has since evolved into a holding group that currently owns 15 growing IPs and brands such as Urban Sneaker Society, USS Feed, Outbrake, Cretivox, Menjadi Manusia, and Sonderlab.
USS Networks focuses on building an ecosystem based on lifestyle and pop culture by converging offline events, communities, brands, media, and retail. The company prides itself on being profitable since day one. “In 2021 we grew over 100% YoY, and in 2022 we estimate that we can grow more than 200% YoY in terms of revenue and profit,” said Sayed Muhammad, co-founder and CEO of USS Networks in a statement.
In the world of Web3, USS Networks is best known for its stake in the super-popular Karafuru NFT project, with another co-founder of USS Networks, Jeffry Jouw, also being the co-creator of Karafuru. On OpenSea, Karafuru currently sits in the 40th position of collections with the highest all-time sales volume. Since launching in early 2022, Karafuru has netted over 43.7K ETH ($77.2 million), with a 0.56 ETH ($990) floor price at the time of writing.
In April, Karafuru collaborated with USS Feed to hold a one-week offline event in Jakarta called the Karafuru Carnival, which brought with it various experiences for the public, as well as special privileges for holders of Karafuru NFTs. Recently, Karafuru also launched a new collection called Karafuru 3D in collaboration with Hypebeast and Atmos.
USS Networks said the fresh capital will be used to acquire IPs and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands that suit its ecosystem. The company estimates that it will acquire three to four more brands in the rest of this year.
Managing partner at SALT Ventures, Danny Sutradewa, said that USS Networks is a rare breed of a digital media company as it has a very strong presence both online and offline. “Both visionary cofounders Sayed and Jejow are very keen-eyed in spotting upcoming trends and can even create a new trend. That is the recipe that made USS Networks grow very quickly in the last three years,” added Sutradewa.
