TL;DR Breakdown
- NFT startup Yuga Labs raised $450 million in a funding round, making it one of the most valuable blockchain startups.
- The round was led by a16z, with Animoca Brands also participating.
- The company is also developing a metaverse called Otherside, which may enhance its valuation even more.
Yuga Labs, the NFT company behind Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC), has raised $450 million in its latest round of funding led by a16z, with Animoca Brands also participating. Its market valuation has risen to $4 billion, making the company one of the most valuable blockchain startups.
According to reports, the new funds will be used to develop the company’s metaverse project “Otherside” and expand its games portfolio.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club endeavors
The Bored Apes NFT startup Yuga Labs is quickly becoming one of the most valuable companies in the blockchain space, with a total valuation of $4 billion after this latest round of funding. With its impressive portfolio of products and services, Yuga Labs is well on its way to becoming a major player in the industry.
The company has not previously sought funding despite its lengthy prior attempts from investors. Animoca Brands, LionTree, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, FTX, and MoonPay are among the investors participating in the round.
Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, will use the money to increase staff and further collaborations. The goal of the project is to establish “an interoperable world” that’s “gamified” and “completely decentralized,” according to BAYC founder Wylie Aronow, who goes by the moniker Gordon Goner.
To symbolize the event, Backer uses Bored Ape as a silhouette of the event
Bored Ape added a new design to its silhouette portray and changed it to Bored Ape to commemorate the occasion. Animoca Brands is a big player in the metaverse sector, among other things. The company has a market cap of $500 million. Yuga Labs is also the owner of CryptoPunks, a second wildly profitable NFT succession, and Meebits.To help improve Otherside, Yuga Labs will work with gaming studios.
Yuga Labs is becoming increasingly entrenched in its perspective. This month, the firm announced it had acquired the assets of two notable NFT projects from Larva Labs: CryptoPunks and Meebits. The firm is only a few months old, and it has already released ApeCoin, which the startup’s founders and executives have a significant stake in. The cryptocurrency’s debut generated a market capitalization of more than $3 billion on the first day.
Bored Ape spinoff drawbacks despite intense growth
The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s (BAYC) NFT collection has seen significant development over the previous few months. However, due to its extensions, it has been linked to a number of spinoffs that have resulted in a lawsuit between digital artists. The world of NFTs recently encountered a lawsuit over neon-colored digital representations of monkeys coated in cake frosting and frosting with candles, according to a previous report. Following the success of BAYC’s spin-off series, Caked Apes, a spin-off version of BAYC, was introduced in January. Litigation is on the rise in the lucrative world of NFTs, especially over trademark infringement and property rights.
OpenSea’s NFT marketplace currently has 49 different Caked Apes, with four owners. According to Business Insider, the individuals behind each collection are now suing over the caricatures’ designs and revenue percentages. According to a source, the NFT community is already talking about how long it will take before the technology spreads. However, little information is available, and it won’t breathe for long before NFT fans get more data on its development.
