Bored Ape Yacht Club Receives Millions in Funding for NFT Metaverse

Bored Ape Yacht Club is planning a media empire around NFTs
Financing round successful
Leaked presentation of Otherside: a metaverse that makes all others obsolete

The funding round for Yuga Labs was one of the largest ever for an NFT company, according to The Verge, and was led by Andreessen Horowitz. Also involved were Animoca Brands, Coinbase and MoonPay. The well-known Web3 player Horowitz had already financed OpenSea, Dapper Labs and Coinbase. Yuga Labs now wants to use the collected capital to launch its own, completely decentralized and gamified metaverse.

Metaverse Otherside

A teaser video for the planned metaverse Otherside went viral on Twitter. What’s interesting is that the game that Otherside is designed to bring to life is not intended to be limited to owners of BoredApe NFTs, but rather to build development tools that integrate other NTFs into Otherside. Nicole Muniz, the new CEO of Yuga Labs, wants to run Otherside as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that connects the entire NFT universe. This is also illustrated by the different NTFs in the teaser video.

See you on the Otherside in April. powered by @apecoin pic.twitter.com/1cnSk1CjXS

– Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 19, 2022

In the leaked 90-page presentation by Yuga Labs, first found on Twitter, the introduction of a new metaverse is followed on page 35 of the presentation with the question “Anyone else think the existing metaverses are unconvincing?” announced. It goes on to say that the idea isn’t new, but what the Metaverse lacks is “a purpose, real involvement, shared goals, connections and decisions that matter. An interesting story to be a part of.” Otherside is not just a game, it is a whole new economy, it says on page 61 of the paper.
As reported by OMR, Greg Solano, one of the founders of Yuga Labs, on the Bored Ape Yacht Club Discord server, questioned the currency of the paper, which is stated as February 2022 and which he himself has never seen, but confirms it authenticity at the same time.
A pre-sale for Land in Otherside could take place as early as April, writes Blockchainwelt, citing insider information. 70 percent should be freely available for sale, 30 percent reserved for owners of BAYC and MAYC. It is reasonable to assume that Otherside and The Sandbox could be linked in some way, the magazine continues, since there are overlaps in personnel between the ApeCoin Foundation and Animoca Brands.

Yuga Labs and APECoin

After acquiring Cryptopunks and Meebits, Yuga Labs has three of its core NFT collections that it can now leverage for its Metaverse. In addition, on March 17, the company’s own, independently managed cryptocurrency APECoin was introduced, which skyrocketed in the first few trading days and then went on a rapid roller coaster ride.
The above company presentation shows that Yuga Labs generated sales of 137 million US dollars in 2021 – not confirmed by the company – with a profit margin of 95 percent. So far, only a relatively limited group of users and the development of a time-limited game have faced this immense turnover. The company has created a thriving community and cultural phenomenon, Andreessen Horowitz’s Chris Dixon told The Verge, and now it’s making a big bet with its Metaverse project that needs to be honored.

Editorial office finanzen.net

Image sources: ApeCoin, mundissima / Shutterstock.com