Bored Ape Club Raises $450 Million in $4 Billion Valuation

With billions in investment and new ground being broken every day, the NFT space is certainly a busy one. Few companies in the space, however, are quite as busy as Yuga Labs. Not only is Yuga Labs the home of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, one of the most valuable NFT collections in the world, but it recently acquired two new collections from Larva Labs.

Now, Yuga Labs has another win under its belt with its recent seed funding round that saw the company raise $450 million. Now, its total post-money valuation sits at $4 billion as announced on March 22, 2022. 

Bored Ape Club Sees Big Support 

This latest funding round was led by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto fund. It was also supported by Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, LionTree, Thrive Capital, and others. 

According to Chris Lyons, a general partner at a16z crypto, this funding round was about not just NFTs, but the metaverse as a whole. Speaking on the round, he said, “Mainstream adoption in web3 is accelerating at lightning speed, and Yuga is at the forefront of merging culture and innovation for everyone to enter the metaverse.”

This first seed round was also a record-breaking one, marking one of the largest-ever post-money valuations for a seed funding round. This is particularly impressive considering the company was only formed in 2021.

With this new influx of funding and institutional support, Yuga Labs has given some insight into its next moves. According to its management, it will be expanding its team with new talent hires. 

The company also made mention of an incoming project dubbed ‘Otherside’ that will be coming soon. 

Growing Confidence in NFTs 

This valuation is another achievement in a long list of wins secured by Yuga Labs in the last few months. It is also indicative of the current state of confidence in the NFT space. Despite the horde of criticism that the sector constantly receives, it is clear that the corporate world has a lot of belief in its potential. 

There is, obviously, good reason for this level of confidence. The Bored Yacht Ape Club has grossed billions of dollars in sales so far and shows no signs of stopping. The latest acquisitions of both CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs also only work to boost Yuga Labs’ dominance in the industry. 

As Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz explained recently, its incoming projects will be looking to benefit the wider community in terms of engagement and creativity. 

“Already, a new economy is possible with the IP of Apes, Punks, and Meebits, owned by the community. 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,” she says. 

With all these developments so close to each other, it is clear that Yuga Labs and the Bored Ape Yacht Club won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.