Bored Ape and CryptoPunk NFTs Owner Yuga Labs Hits $4B Valuation After Raising $450M

Yuga Labs, the brains behind the renowned Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has raised $450 million in a funding round to invest in its metaverse gaming project dubbed Otherside. 

Yuga Labs Raises Funds for Metaverse Project

Otherside will help connect the broader non-fungible token (NFT) universe. BAYC co-founder Wylie Aronow said that they hope to create “an interoperable world” that is “gamified” and “completely decentralized,” The Verge reported.

Yuga Labs is reportedly partnering with a few different game studios to bring Otherside to fruition. The firm also revealed that the game will not be limited to Bored Ape NFT holders, and the company plans to create development tools that allow NFTs from other projects to work in the virtual world.

Yuga Labs declined to provide a timeline for the release of Otherside, but according to reports, a play-to-earn game is also planned for later this year.

Yuga Labs Hits 4Billion Valuation

The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, an American venture capital firm that has been investing heavily in the Web3 space. Other investors who joined the funding round included game studio Animoca Brands and crypto firms like Coinbase and MoonPay, among others.

The latest fundraising has brought the company’s valuation to $4 billion.

Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunk and Meebit

Yuga Labs made a big move a few weeks back to synthesize the NFT space by acquiring the CryptoPunk and Meebit NFT collections from Larva Labs. This integration puts three of the most revered NFT collections under one roof. The acquisition is believed to enable the company to build its game and metaverse.

Last week, the company rolled out its native cryptocurrency, dubbed Ape Coin. The token will be governed independently and used as a primary currency in Yuga Labs’ projects.

Interestingly, the recent steep decrease in the NFT market did not deter Yuga Labs from diving deeper into the industry. Some users are happy with the upcoming project, saying it will be a fine combination of in-real-life (IRL) and NFT.