Yuga Labs' Handwritten: The Origin of the $4 Billion Story - "Let's Make an NFT"

Author: Yuga Labs

Compiled by: Block Rhythm

On March 23, Yuga Labs, the parent company of Bored Ape, completed a $450 million financing round at a valuation of $4 billion, led by a16z, with participation from Animoca Brands, LionTree, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, FTX, MoonPay, and others.

From starting with a single image to now achieving a $4 billion valuation, from obscurity to being the center of attention in sports, entertainment, and VC, Yuga Labs has accomplished this in just over a year. They acquired well-known IPs, launched Ape Coin, and used exciting videos to announce the arrival of Otherside and other IPs, culminating in the financing news led by a16z that pushed the excitement to a peak.

The founding team of Yuga Labs also shared their story on the official website. Everything began with the phrase on February 1, 2021: "Let's make an NFT." Below is the full translation:

We started with a detailed business plan.

Yuga Labs was founded by four friends: Gargamel, Gordon, Tomato, and Sass.

Everything started with this sentence:

("In my opinion, Gordon's profile picture on his phone is a bit rude??" - Garga)

Hold on, let's start from the beginning

Gordon and Garga first became interested in cryptocurrency in 2017, where they shared some nonsense on Twitter.

You can read everything on Crypto Twitter and only understand the surface of what is happening. Moreover, the crazy characters you encounter while browsing Crypto Twitter looking for alpha (the next shitcoin) are really captivating. So many millionaires (and many fakes) have anime profile pictures, exchanging monotonous meme images with each other.

They contributed to cryptocurrency in the only way they knew: reading a lot, spending some money, making some money, and then losing it all.

In early 2021, The Hashmasks was released. We had heard of other NFT projects like Crypto Kitties and Cryptopunks. However, Hashmasks made it feel like the technical aspect of NFT projects was not the focus for the first time. It was an art project mediated by blockchain and NFT technology. Technically, nothing crazy was done, but it pushed the entire space forward.

They sent another text message.

They recruited two friends, Sass and Tomato, both software engineers, to help build something before they really knew what they were building.

("At that time, I thought JavaScript was important for making NFTs, but it wasn't super great." - Garga)

It felt like a new cultural wave was entering cryptocurrency (more specifically, Ethereum).

As the four of us learned more about NFTs, we became increasingly excited about the possibilities that this technology brought. It was not only an opportunity to create art and tell stories on new media, but if you could irrefutably prove that a piece of digital art was authentic, you could use that artwork as a key to access locked content, experiences, clothing—anything. Your NFT could also serve as a membership card to an exclusive club.

Ape, by nature, is an Ape.

For a long time, cryptocurrency traders affectionately referred to themselves as "Apes." This is one reason why some of the most valuable NFTs in the Cryptopunks series are apes. We envisioned a future where crypto changed the world, and everyone in the crypto space "succeeded" (Supercycle, etc.). Every "meme" or effort to enter cryptocurrency became beyond their wildest imagination. But then what? What do bored "apes" do?

Our answer was: hang out in a secret club in the swamp, exclusive to apes. And graffiti on the collaborative pixel board on the bathroom wall of the club.

Come true

After working with a team of freelance illustrators to bring this idea to life, the Bored Ape Yacht Club was ready. BAYC launched a week-long presale on April 23, 2021, with the cost to mint a Bored Ape NFT being 0.08 ETH, or about $220 at the time. After a very slow week (only about 500 apes were minted during the presale), all remaining bored apes were minted in a crazy night. The collection sold out on May 1, 2021. At one point, BAYC was the most used smart contract on the Ethereum network, far surpassing UniSwap.

OG Team

The depiction of these ragged, punk, nihilistic bored apes was the result of a group of talented freelance illustrators working together.

@allseeingseneca worked for four days on the basic character designs under our creative direction, followed by @migwashere, @thomasdagley, and two other anonymous artists who worked for over a month, creating various expressions, outfits, and accessories, as well as the design of the club itself.

The mutant apes were illustrated by @thomasdagley and @lovans, with serum artwork provided by @1800seandotcom.

Those Important Moments

April 23, 2021

Bored Ape Yacht Club launched a week-long presale. The cost to mint a Bored Ape NFT was 0.08 ETH, about $220 at the time. Approximately 500 apes were minted during the presale.

May 1, 2021

After a grueling week, the remaining bored apes (around 9,500) were all minted in a crazy night. The collection sold out in the early hours of May 1, 2021. That night, BAYC was the most used smart contract on the Ethereum network, far surpassing UniSwap.

Our Discord transformed from a completely lifeless place to the hottest spot in the crypto space.

May 9, 2021

BAYC LoFi Radio started as pre-recorded videos and turned into a live stream on May 21. To be honest, we focused on other things in the roadmap, so the YT channel equipment has malfunctioned multiple times, which is why there are so few views or comments, haha.

May 29, 2021

Our first batch sold out in 6 minutes. We packed all the boxes ourselves… and vowed to find an execution partner in the future.

June 18, 2021

Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) joined the BAYC family. Each bored ape owner could claim a companion dog NFT from the Bored Ape Kennel Club smart contract. The adoption driver was available for a week and then turned off forever. All proceeds from royalties generated in the first six weeks were donated to several animal charities, after which secondary sales commissions were set to zero.

August 8, 2021

We celebrated the grand opening of the BAYC Riverboat casino in Decentraland with virtual currency poker (powered by Decentral Games).

August 21, 2021

We collaborated with The Hundreds to launch a series of T-shirts, hoodies, and rugs.

August 28, 2021

Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) was established. Each bored ape owner received a serum that could be used to mutate their bored ape into a mutant ape with corresponding traits. The public mint also offered an additional 10,000 Mutant Ape NFTs.

September 9, 2021

Sotheby's "Ape in!" auction began, featuring 101 bored apes and 101 BAKC dogs. The hammer price for the Bored Ape lots was $24,393,000, and for the BAKC lots, it was $1,835,000.

September 13, 2021

We launched an interactive treasure hunt for BAYC members, where they explored inside and outside the clubhouse and solved puzzles left by a mischievous monkey named Jimmy. We rewarded the winners with 10 ETH, a bored ape, a BAKC dog, and a pair of special editions made by RTFKT.

September 17, 2021

Apes, Mutants, and the broader NFT community celebrated in style at Sotheby's "No Time Like the Present" auction in Hong Kong, featuring four bored apes in suits. Bored Ape #1401 sold for 5,000,000 HKD (approximately $640,000).

October 31 to November 6, 2021

We held the first APE FEST, a week-long free member event. Members could attend exclusive Halloween yacht parties, art galleries, and limited edition merchandise pop-ups, along with other perks. On Wednesday night, they held a celebration concert at Brooklyn Steel, featuring top musical performances and guest appearances from some well-known comedians to keep the party going. On Saturday, Ape and Mutant owners hosted a charity dinner at one of New York City's most famous restaurants, Carbone, enjoying a final hurrah. The auction raised nearly $200,000.

All event photos are provided by BAYC members and are not part of the Yuga media kit.

December 17, 2021

We brought Adidas into the NFT world with gmoney and PUNKS Comic.

January 21, 2022

We launched battle. Bored Ape and Mutant Ape holders participated in a week-long BAYC x MAYC mobile game competition. The top 1,000 scorers from each NFT series were eligible for physical prizes, including plush toys, artist-made smoking pipes, sewer grate sculptures, pinball machines, and a modified 2002 Honda Accord.

Today

Yuga Labs has grown from four founders to over 40 people. Our new CEO Nicole Muniz aka @VStrangeYUGA and CCO @pezYUGA (who have been with us almost from the beginning) joined our new COO @SodaOps to lead the team in expanding the greater Yuga world.

Everything is just beginning.

See you in "Otherside."