UPDATED 20:35 EDT / MARCH 22 2022

BLOCKCHAIN

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT creator Yuga Labs raises $450M on $4B valuation

Yuga Labs Inc., the creator of leading nonfungible tokens such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, today said it has raised $450 million in funding for its planned joint ventures and partnerships.

The seed round — that’s not a typo — was led by a16z crypto, venture firm Andreesseen Horowitz’s new fund. Also participating in the round were Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, LionTree, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, FTX, MoonPay and others.

The deal valued Yuga Labs at $4 billion. The raise and valuation are likely the highest ever for a seed round.

Founded in 2021, Yuga Labs offers a Web3 platform creating NFTs and related projects. Best known for its creation of Bored Ape Yacht Club, the company also owns several other leading NFTs following its acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits on March 12.

NFTs, which are tokens representating artwork and a wide range of other digital creations, have grown in popularity over the last 12 months as an alternative investment. Yuga Labs, through Bored Ape Yacht Club, is regularly being the most popular NFT creator. However, Yuga Labs is not stopping at NFTs, with plans to develop a metaverse project called Otherside.

The company has not released many details about Otherside other than a teaser trailer that features Bored Ape Yacht Club and other characters in what appears to be a virtual world.

According to The Verge, Yugo Labs is partnering with several game studies to bring Otherside to life. The metaverse will not be limited to Bored Ape Yacht Club holders. The company plans to create development tools that allow NFTs from other projects to work inside their world.

“Already, a new economy is possible with the IP of Apes, Punks and Meebits, owned by the community,” Nicole Muniz, chief executive officer of Yuga Labs, said in a statement. “The possibilities for blockchain’s impact on culture are endless, and so we are building a beautiful, interoperable world for people to explore and play in. There’s a lot to come.”

Yuga Labs also recently launched Apecoin, a token claimable by Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club members. The cryptocurrency is tradable on exchanges including Coinbase Global Inc., FTX Digital Markets Ltd., Gemini Trust Company LLC and eToro.

Before raising its first formal investment, Yuga Labs had only raised money through the direct sale of its NFTs and the issuing of tokens.

Image: Pixabay

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