Yuga Labs, the company behind the mega-successful PFP NFT project, Bored Ape Yacht Club, is currently in talks with Andreessen Horowitz, the major U.S. venture capital firm cofounded by ARTnews Top 200 Collector, Marc Andreessen.
In pursuit of funding, Yuga Labs is reportedly preparing to sell a multimillion dollar stake in the company to the firm, which would value the company at somewhere between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to a report by the Financial Times. The deal has not been finalized, and either party could change the terms or walk away altogether.
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While many investors have funded NFT platforms, like OpenSea or MakersPlace, which form key infrastructure in the NFT market, individual NFT projects, like Bored Apes, have as of yet not received the same kind of investment. A deal between Yuga Labs and Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in companies like Uber and Airbnb when they were still startups, would mark the first institutional investment into projects of this type.
Yuga Labs was launched less than a year ago by its four anonymous founders, who go by Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, No Sass and Gargamel. The small company, which only has 11 employees, saw the value of its Bored Apes skyrocket, at times even taking over the more prestigious CryptoPunk project which is seen as having some historical value as it was one of the first PFP NFT projects to have been created. During its short existence, Bored Apes works have generated $750 million worth of trading value.
Additionally, Yuga Labs has looked to bring its digital community into the physical world by hosting parties and courting collaborations. Celebrities like Justin Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Snoop Dogg have invested in Bored Apes. According to the FT‘s report, Snoop Dogg and Eminem, who is also a Bored Ape collector, might be featuring their NFTs during the Super Bowl halftime show on February 13.
Source: artnews.com