Yuga Labs aims to raise $50 million with its new Mecha Apes collection, according to a report by Protos. Mecha Apes are expected to launch later this year, months after Yuga bagged $600 million from its “Otherdeeds for Otherside” NFT collection.

Yuga Labs to Launch a New NFT Collection

Web3 firm Yuga Labs is reportedly looking to raise $50 million from its new Mecha Apes non-fungible token (NFT) collection, according to a leaked document viewed by Protos. There is currently no additional information about the upcoming collection.

Expected to launch later in 2022, Mecha Apes comes after Yuga Labs completely sold out its “Otherdeeds for Otherside” NFT collection, with a total of 100,000 pieces. Each piece sold at an initial price of $6,000, earning Yuga Labs a total of $600,000.

But the floor price per piece plummeted to $2,700 as a result of a broader crypto market downturn. The current bear market has battered the prices of Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, while the NFT trading volume remains down almost 100% from its 2021 highs.

While Yuga Labs did not disclose any information about the Mecha Apes collection, the firm has launched a “Mecha Piece” as one of the artifacts in the Otherdeeds. The Miami-based blockchain firm describes Othedeeds as a place “where players will be able to interact simultaneously in a single place, connect with natural voice chat (even in crowds of thousands), experience rich, immersive gameplay supported by AI and physics, and move between metaverses.”

Yuga Remains Confident in the Face of NFT Market Downturn

The rumors about the upcoming Mecha Apes collection may indicate that Yuga Labs remains confident in the long-term potential of the NFT market, which has seen a significant slump in interest in recent months. The firm, best known for its Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, raised $450 million in a seed funding round earlier this year, valuing the company at more than $4 billion.

The funding round was backed by FTX Ventures, Google Ventures, Mark Cuban, Snoop Dogg, and Animoca Brands, which teamed up with Yuga Labs to make a metaverse game. Yuga also collaborated last month with Snoop Dogg and Eminem to create the first metaverse-inspired 2022 Video Music Awards (VMAs) performance.

The NFT market has seen a sharp U-turn in terms of activity this year, after its extraordinary growth in 2021. Global NFT sales stood at $647.23 million in July, down from roughly $4.78 billion in January.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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