- Yuga Labs has purchased NFT startup Wenew
- The firm was co-founded by popular NFT artist Mike Winkelmann, or ‘Beeple’
- Beeple will transition to an advisory role at Yuga Labs
Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs has enlarged its territory by purchasing Beeple’s NFT startup Wenew. The acquisition deal also accommodates the NFT artist as an advisor to Yuga Labs, with Wenew’s CEO Michael Figge becoming Yuga Labs’ head of content. The acquisition comes months after Yuga Labs purchased intellectual property rights for the Meebits and CryptoPunks projects.
Endless Ways to Reimagine NFTs, Web3 and Metaverse
Wenew was formed in June last year, three months after Beeple made headlines for selling his NFT artwork Everydays – The First 5000 Days for $69 million. Since its launch, Wenew has become known for the 10KTF NFT project that revolves around Wagmi-san, a virtual apparel maker for Bored Apes, Cool Cats, and other popular NFT projects.
It has also worked with leading brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, bringing it to the attention of big players such as Yuga Labs, whose co-founder Greg Solano welcomed the acquisition by saying that Yuga operates on a foundation of “storytelling and world-building”, adding that the acquisition of Wenew opens “endless” ways to collaborate.
Wagmi-san to the Otherside
Yuga Labs is already taking advantage of the acquisition with suggestions that they’ll feature digital apparel maker Wagmi-san to the Otherside, the metaverse world that encapsulates the many branches of the Bored Ape tree.
Welcome to the Otherside, Wagmi-san. pic.twitter.com/cNCNTqOd44
— Othersidemeta (@OthersideMeta) November 14, 2022
News of the deal comes days after Yuga Labs co-founders joined with 10KTF executives to publish a blog criticizing OpenSea’s way of handling NFT artists’ royalties. This caused the leading NFT marketplace to change its tune and embrace creator fees for all collections on the platform.
Wenew, Beeple and Figge’s presence at Yuga Labs may extend the boundaries of creativity and imagination of what we know as NFTs, Web 3.0 and the metaverse.
