Yuga Labs welcomes Beeple’s 10KTF and WENEW to their growing NFT and web3 ecosystem

November 16, 2022

By Sharan Kaur Phillora

After purchasing the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT project IP from Larva Labs in March, the startup announced that it has acquired NFT startup WENEW, co-founded by famed artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann.

Here’s what we know:

WENEW is an NFT powerhouse known for web3-centric partnerships with celebrated brands such as Louis Vuitton, Playboy, Wimbledon, Gucci, Puma, and others; in addition to these high-profile collaborations, WENEW is home to the narrative-driven NFT collection, 10KTF.

“Figge, Beeple, and the WENEW team have found a way to create a captivating serialized story for web3 while also managing to tap into the passion people have for their digital avatars and customization,” said Greg Solano, co-founder of Yuga Labs. “Storytelling and world-building are foundational at Yuga, and I’m thrilled that we get to work with the creative mind hive at WENEW in a much more robust way. The possibilities of what we can do together are endless.”

10KTF is a story-driven NFT project built around a fictional “digital artisan” named Wagmi-san, who develops custom outfits that owners of popular PFP projects—including the Bored Apes, but also Cool Cats, Nouns, Moonbirds, and others—can apply to their owned NFT artwork. Owners can also order physical apparel based on their PFP artwork.

Following the acquisition, Figge will join Yuga’s leadership team as the Chief Content Officer, responsible for pushing the boundaries of imagination and creativity at Yuga through out-of-the-box content strategies and experiences. Beeple, aka Mike Winkelmann, will join Yuga Labs as an advisor.

In addition to Figge, nearly 20 WENEW employees will move over to Yuga, bringing Yuga’s full-time staff to over 100 people around the world.

About the author

Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.