When it comes to NFTs, one company reigns as the kings of the industry – Yuga Labs.
In the space of 36 months, they’ve gone from a group of four friends to an industry giant, managing NFT collections with a market cap of well over $1 billion USD, with endless celebrity fans and worldwide recognition.
Now, the company is forging new paths in gaming – and with the release of multiple titles on the horizon, Yuga Labs continue to grow not just themselves, but the NFT industry at large.
How did Yuga Labs become the behemoth it is today? Here’s our complete guide to Yuga Labs in 2024.
What is Yuga Labs?
Yuga Labs LLC is a blockchain technology company, founded in February 2021 by Greg Solano (@CryptoGarga), Wylie Aronow (@GordonGoner), Zeshan Ali (@SassBAYC) and Kerem Atalay (@tomatobayc).
Based in Miami, the company spans multiple NFT collections, gaming projects, and entertainment brands – and despite its young age, Yuga is already valued at over $4 billion USD, with over 100 employees across their team.
Yuga Labs is best known for its NFT collections, which include:
- Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC): 10,000 ape avatars, minted on Ethereum in April 2021. The #2 most valuable NFT collection.
- Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC): 10,000 dog avatars, minted on Ethereum in June 2021. The original companions to the Bored Apes.
- Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC): 20,000 mutated apes, introduced on Ethereum in August 2021. 10,000 were freshly minted, with the other 10,000 created by using Mutant Serum on a Bored Ape.
- TwelveFold: 300 pieces of generative art, minted as Bitcoin Ordinals in March 2023.
- CryptoPunks and Meebits: Acquired from Larva Labs in March 2022. The #1 and #40 most valuable NFT collections.
On top of from NFT collectibles, Yuga Labs are known for their range of games – such as endless runner Dookey Dash, its follow-up Dookey Dash: Unclogged, and the Otherside metaverse.
Yuga Labs also played a role in the formation of the ApeCoin DAO, its popular $APE token, and initiatives such as the ApeChain.
The History of Yuga Labs
April 2021 saw the debut of Bored Ape Yacht Club, with 10,000 NFTs minted at 0.08 ETH ($250 USD) each. The release of Bored Ape Kennel Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club – and the first annual ApeFest in October 2021 – expanded the Yuga ecosystem, and by the end of 2021, BAYC was the #2 most valuable NFT collection.
2022 saw the introduction Dookey Dash, an endless runner game accessible to holders of Sewer Pass NFTs. Players competed to achieve the highest score – with the ultimate victor, Twitch streamer Mongraal, selling his Golden Key prize for $1.6 million USD (1,000 ETH).
These successes led to the acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs shortly thereafter, with 2022 also seeing the introduction of the Otherside metaverse, the formation of the ApeCoin DAO and release of the $APE token, and the acquisition of Beeple’s 10KTF NFT collection.
2023 saw the minting of Bitcoin Ordinals collection TwelveFold in March, and the release of two strategy games – Legends of the Mara and HV-MTL. Each has its own companion NFT collection, but mixed reception saw the titles transferred to game studio Faraway in April 2024.
Yuga acquired PROOF Collective – best known for their Moonbirds NFT collection – in February 2024, and released a follow-up to Dookey Dash, titled Dookey Dash: Unclogged, in September 2024.
This rampant success hasn’t been without controversy.
In February 2022, a BuzzFeed article revealed the identities of Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow – who were pseudonymous up to that point. 2022 also saw Yuga issue artist Ryder Ripps with a lawsuit against his copycat RR/BAYC collection – a case that was eventually settled in Yuga’s favour in 2023.
May 2024 saw the debut of Nina Chanel Abney‘s “Super Punk World” collection – the first output from Yuga’s Punks in Residence programme. It received widespread backlash, leading to the apparent backtracking of the Punks in Residence series, and continued speculation that Yuga were out of touch with the NFT community at large – a sentiment that continues to this day.
What lies ahead for Yuga Labs?
Yuga Labs has big plans for the future, particularly around gaming and the metaverse.
Otherside continues to be under development, with a number of successful – albeit limited – playtests thus far. Otherside looks to be a cornerstone of the Yuga ecosystem moving forward, though some are concerned with the pace of development thus far, and the quality of what we’ve seen.
The company have fostered deeper ties with Faraway, with the studio currently developing the in-universe Serum City title in collaboration with Novel Labs – with many more titles likely to follow.
$APE continues to prosper, with the ApeCoin DAO advocating for the launch of ApeChain – a Layer-3 blockchain built on Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum. The goal of ApeChain is to advance blockchain-based content, tooling and distribution platforms, making blockchain technology more accessible than ever.
Web3 wouldn’t be what it is today without the success of Yuga Labs. For better or worse, Yuga are commonly seen as the leading figures of the industry, and certainly one of most well-known. As they stride confidently into 2025 and beyond, we’re sure that their journey has only just begun.
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