Yuga Acquires 10KTF
By Josh Bobrowsky
Quick Facts
Today Yuga has acquired1 WeNew the parent company to 10KTF (unknown deal terms)
WeNew is run by Michael Figge (CEO), Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), Tim Smith, and Guy Oseary (Involved in many NFTs and VC at Sound Ventures along side Ashton Kutcher)
Michael Figge will join Yuga as Chief Content Officer
Beeple will join Yuga as an advisor
Guy Oseary was already deeply involved with Yuga prior to this acquisition
Prior to the acquisition Yuga & 10KTF had worked together on a few light collaborations including The First Trip including a treasure hut in order to find WAGMI’s (A main character in the 10KTF story) lost glasses.
Yuga Labs has set up a thoughtful fishing resistant website that allows them to safely convey news
Prior to acquisition WeNew had used ApeCoin as a reward mechanism for gameplay
Initial Thoughts
WeNew + Yuga is an acquisition that makes sense. WeNew is a great storytelling brand and Yuga has scale and resources
The two brands have worked together over the past few months/years and WeNew founders are familiar with the players at Yuga so I would be surprised if there was too much of a culture shock
Bringing more players in house is important from security and avoiding leaks in information. WeNew has a great track record for avoiding information leaks which will help Yuga grow moving forward. Even this acquisition was nicely done without a leak
WeNew does storytelling on a weekly basis, this is what Yuga and OtherSide need to recapture momentum. Yuga needs to increase storytelling and communications without diminishing the quality of their communications. Figge is one of the top players in the world to lead this charge.
Michael Figge Background: Previously he developed Live Visual Identity for the world's biggest artists including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Childish Gambino, Paul McCartney, and Lady Gaga.2
A large brand with resources is often best served by acquiring smaller companies, bringing on top talent and integrating them into the current ecosystem rather than attempting to build things from scratch
Yuga Assets
Yuga has 4 of the top 6 NFT projects of all time.
Now have added an additional 35,000+ NFTs.
This is good for Yuga in some senses, but a challenge as there is no current high level competitor today. Although many are ramping up quickly (Nike/Polygon).
Breakdown of Yuga Assets: 215,000 NFTs Currently + 100k more OtherDeeds coming
Bored Apes: 10,000
Mutant Apes: 20,000
Dogs: 10,000
Otherside: 100,000
Kodas (likely separated from OtherSide): 10,000
Punks: 10,000
Meebits: 20,000
10KTF: 35,000
Yuga Marketplace?
This is pure speculation but I would have to think that Yuga Labs is considering opening up a Yuga Marketplace.
If I was Yuga this is what I would be thinking, and the greater the scale of assets under the Yuga brand the more powerful the ecosystem from network effects
Conclusion
Given the two brand’s collaboration over the past few months/years this is an acquisition that makes sense. That said, there is always risk involved with bringing on a new brand to a current larger operation.
This has potential to be a net positive for Yuga and 10KTF. The more tasks they can bring in-house the tighter their operations will be.
Cheers
Josh Bobrowsky
I refer to this transaction as an acquisition although I don’t have the official terms of the deal and it could be more of a merger depending on the structure. That said, my thoughts are it is most likely an acquisition.
Source https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfigge/
Great post!
Great, timely post.