Who are Yuga Labs? Our Complete 2024 Guide

When it comes to NFTs, one company undoubtedly reign as the kings of the industry – Yuga Labs.

In the space of three-and-a-half years, they’ve gone from a group of four friends to an industry giant, managing NFT collections with a market cap well over $1 billion USD, counting endless celebrities amongst their fans, and achieving worldwide recognition.

Now, the company is forging new paths in metaverse gaming – and with multiple new projects on the horizon, Yuga Labs continue to grow not just themselves, but the NFT industry at large.

How did Yuga Labs become what it is today? Here’s our complete 2024 guide to Yuga Labs.

Who are 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, entertainment initiatives and more – and despite its recent origin, Yuga is already valued at over $4 billion USD, with over 100 employees.

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.

Away from NFT collectibles, Yuga Labs are also known for their gaming initiatives – such as endless runner Dookey Dash, its follow-up Dookey Dash: Unclogged, and the Otherside metaverse.

Yuga Labs also played a large role in the formation of the ApeCoin DAO, its eponymous $APE token, and initiatives such as the ApeChain.

What have Yuga Labs accomplished so far?

April 2021 saw the debut of Bored Ape Yacht Club, with 10,000 NFTs minted for 0.08 ETH ($250 USD). The release of Bored Ape Kennel Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club – and the first annual ApeFest in October 2021 – further expanded the Yuga ecosystem – and by the end of 2021, BAYC was the #2 most valuable NFT collection.

The company kicked-off 2022 by introducing Dookey Dash, an endless runner game accessible to holders of Sewer Pass NFTs. Players competed to achieve the highest score – with the ultimate victor, popular Twitch streamer Mongraal, selling his Golden Key prize for $1.6 million USD (1,000 ETH).

These consecutive successes led to the acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs only a year into their journey, 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 had its own companion NFT collection, but mixed reception saw the titles handed to game studio Faraway in April 2024.

Speaking of 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 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. The year also saw Yuga issue artist Ryder Ripps with a lawsuit against his copycat RR/BAYC collection – a mainstream 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 Punk in Residence collaboration. It was widely panned, leading to backtracking that only fuelled speculation that Yuga were out of touch with the NFT community – something that continues to this day.

What does the future hold for Yuga Labs?

Yuga Labs has big plans for the future – namely around gaming and the metaverse.

Their Otherside metaverse 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.

The company have fostered deeper ties with Faraway. The studio is 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. ApeChain looks to advance blockchain-based content, tooling and distribution platforms, making blockchain more accessible than ever.

Yuga Labs have had a significant influence on Web3 thus far. Yuga are stalwarts, leaders, and perhaps the best-known face of the NFT industry – and as they stride confidently into the future, we can only imagine the impact they will continue to have.