Yuga Labs, a blockchain technology company that develops NFTs and digital collectibles, acquired Beeple’s WENEW and its 10KTF NFT collection.

Yuga Labs is the developer of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club, and it hinted about the incorporation of 10KTF and Otherside, its gamified interoperable metaverse platform that is still in development.

The Web3 company is the parent company of BAYC, and this acquisition effectively expanded its portfolio of sought-after non-fungible token projects. CoinDesk mentioned that WENEW prided itself on major brand partnerships such as luxury fashion houses - Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

The company was founded by Mike Winkelmann, an artist who is commonly known as Beeple. He set up WENEW along with Michael Figge, Guy Oseary and Tim Smith. This premier curator of iconic moments - immortalizing them as NFTs is also the one behind the 10KTF online shop that is operating in the virtual city of New Tokyo. The shop is run by the fictional craftsman Wagmi-san who often airdrops his newly-crafted accessories for select NFTs.

“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,” Yuga Labs’ co-founder, Greg Solano, said in a press release. “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.”

With the acquisition agreement, Figge will now be part of Yuga Lab’s leadership team, where he will serve as the chief content officer. He will be in charge of creativity and expected to form and implement content strategies and experiences right off the bat. On the other hand, Beeple will be an advisor at the company.

WENEW’s chief executive officer and co-founder, Michael Figge, also commented regarding the deal, “We built this company with storytelling at the forefront. Yuga’s first-class contributions to story, experiences, and community were a huge inspiration and their principles of openness inspired the interoperability of 10KTF.”

Finally, Figge added that they are really excited to be part of Yuga. Together with the company, he is looking forward to creating more amazing things in NFTs and web3.