When it comes to NFT, there is one company that can be called the king of the industry—— Yuga Labs.
In 36 months, they went from four friends to industry giants, managing an NFT collection worth well over $1 billion, with endless celebrity fans and global recognition.
Now, the company is blazing new trails in gaming—with multiple games released, not only Yuga Labs itself continues to grow, but so does the NFT industry as a whole.
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).
The company is headquartered in Miami and covers multiple NFT series, gaming projects and entertainment brands – although Yuga has only been around for a short time, its valuation has exceeded $4 billion and its team has more than 100 employees.
Yuga Labs is known for its NFT collection, which includes:
- Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC): 10,000 Ape Heads, minted on Ethereum in April 2021.
- boring ape kennel club (BAKC): 10,000 dog heads, minted on Ethereum in June 2021.
- Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC): 20,000 Mutated Apes, launched on Ethereum in August 2021.
- 12% off: 300 pieces of generative art, minted into Bitcoin serial numbers in March 2023.
- Cryptopunk and Mibit: Acquired from Larva Labs in March 2022.
In addition to NFT collectibles, Yuga Labs is also known for its game series, such as the endless runner Dookey Dash, its follow-up Dookey Dash: Unclogged, and Otherside Metaverse.
Yuga Labs also played a role in the formation of initiatives such as ApeCoin DAO, its popular $APE token, and ApeChain.
History of Yuga Labs
In April 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club debuted, minting 10,000 NFTs at a price of 0.08 ETH ($250) each. The launch of Bored Ape Kennel Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club and the first annual ApeFest in October 2021 have expanded the Yuga ecosystem, and by the end of 2021, BAYC has become the second most valuable NFT series.
2022 saw the launch of Dookey Dash, an endless runner game available to Sewer Pass NFT holders. Players competed for the highest score, with the eventual winner, Twitch streamer Mongraal, selling his Golden Key winnings for $1.6 million (1,000 ETH).
These successes led to the acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs soon after, and in 2022 also the introduction of the Otherside metaverse, the formation of the ApeCoin DAO and the issuance of the $APE token, as well as the acquisition of Beeple’s 10KTF NFT series.
In 2023, the Bitcoin Ordinals series TwelveFold was released in March and released two strategy games – Legends of the Mara and HV-MTL. Each game had its own collection of companion NFTs, but with mixed reactions, the games were moved to game studio Faraway in April 2024.
Yuga acquired PROOF Collective (known for its Moonbirds NFT series) in February 2024, and released a follow-up to Dookey Dash called Dookey Dash: Unclogged in September 2024.
This huge success was not without controversy.
In February 2022, a BuzzFeed article revealed the identities of Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, who had previously been pseudonyms. In 2022, Yuga also filed a lawsuit against artist Ryder Ripps, accusing him of copying the RR/BAYC series. The case was eventually settled in 2023 in Yuga’s favor.
In May 2024, Nina Chanel Abney’s “Super Punk World” series debuts, the first work of the Yuga Punk Residency Program. It was met with widespread backlash, leading to an apparent setback in the Punks in Residence series and continued speculation that Yuga was out of touch with the NFT community at large—a sentiment that continues to this day.
What’s the future for Yuga Labs?
Yuga Labs has big plans for the future, especially when it comes to games and metaverses.
Otherside is still in development and has had some successful (albeit limited) playtesting so far. Otherside looks to be a cornerstone of the Yuga ecosystem moving forward, although some are concerned about the pace of development so far and the quality of what we’ve seen.
The company has a deeper connection with Faraway, and the studio is currently working with Novel Labs on a Serum City game in the universe, with more games likely to follow.
$APE continues to thrive, with ApeCoin DAO advocating for the launch of ApeChain – a layer 3 blockchain built on Ethereum’s layer 2 arbitration. ApeChain’s goal is to advance blockchain-based content, tools, and distribution platforms to make blockchain technology more accessible than ever.
Without Yuga Labs’ success, Web3 wouldn’t be what it is today. For better or worse, Yuga is often seen as a leading figure in the industry and certainly one of the most famous. As they confidently move into 2025 and beyond, we’re certain their journey has only just begun.
