Quick take:
- Yuga Labs is planning virtual land sales this month and later in August
- The goal is to raise hundreds of millions of dollars as part of its metaverse initiative to expand beyond NFTs
- Yuga Labs aims to create a gaming metaverse, named MetaRPG
- MetaRPG will be compatible with other NFTs and powered by a new token, APECoin
Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of NFTs, is planning a fundraising event that will involve the sale of virtual land plots to generate revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The sale of the virtual plots of land is projected to generate up to $455 million and will fund Yuga Labs’ plans to expand beyond its famous Bored Apes NFTs, into an all-inclusive and interactive metaverse named MetaRPG.
To start, the sale of the virtual land will be through NFTs that will be linked to plots within the new metaverse. Furthermore, the plots of land will have unique features such as natural resources, artifacts, and even rare characters.
200,000 plots of virtual land will be sold through two sales. The first phase of selling will kick off this month with the second round being carried out in August of this year. Yuga Labs hopes to raise $178 million from each phase of selling and will retain a percentage of the virtual land for itself.
Once successfully launched, the MetaRPG gaming metaverse will be compatible with a list of other NFTs and powered by its very own cryptocurrency: APECoin token. At the time of writing, no further details have been provided regarding the token and whether there will be a private sale and/or public sale.
According to the Financial Times, Yuga Labs is currently valued at between $4 billion and $5 billion. Additionally, the NFT company has been reportedly discussing financing with Andreessen Horowitz by selling ‘a a multimillion-dollar stake in a new funding round’.
Neither Yuga Labs nor Andreessen Horowitz has commented on the matter but the probability of such a sale hints towards institutional interest in the hype-filled industry of NFTs.
Also worth mentioning is that Yuga Labs recently acquired the intellectual property rights to CryptoPunks and Meebits NFTs from Larva Labs.
