# Yuga Labs Financial Model

Yuga Labs is the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), building an interoperable NFT-based MetaRPG gaming metaverse powered by APECoin.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/yuga-labs
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/yuga-labs.xlsx
- Category: Crypto/Web3
- Model type: Unit-economics / DTC
- Funding round: Series A
- Funding: $450M
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: US-based (NYC events, global community).
- Customer: B2C

## About the company

Yuga Labs created Bored Ape Yacht Club and is building an interoperable NFT-based MetaRPG gaming metaverse powered by APECoin. Its ecosystem combines flagship intellectual property, NFT ownership, land and game experiences, merchandise, and a global community rather than a conventional software subscription product.

Its economic model is driven by discrete NFT drops and land sales, followed by secondary-market royalties and longer-term gaming or licensing income. The deck’s existing income-statement structure should anchor the model, while APE token participation and incentives must be distinguished from cash revenue. The company is US-based with a global community.

Model primary drops, average sale price, secondary NFT GMV, royalty rate, land activity, game users, licensing, and merchandise independently. Keep token incentives and treasury movements separate from operating revenue, then include content production, game development, community, legal, and marketing costs. Drop timing, secondary liquidity, royalty yield, game retention, token prices, and IP expansion should control scenarios.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- Core existing IP: Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC, 10k NFTs), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC). Members granted commercial IP ownership rights - a key differentiation that turned holders into a distributed marketing force.
- Planned product: "MetaRPG" - an interoperable gaming metaverse built on a narrative lore ("Kodas / celestials") with blockchain-based land ownership, in-game economy, primary/secondary NFT markets, and an SDK for third-party developers and game builders (described as "an in-game app store").
- Currency: APECoin - the unifying in-game and ecosystem currency; will also support a soft currency for more accessible spending.
- Land: 200k total land plots across two drops of 100k each; 30% of genesis drop reserved for BAYC/MAYC holders, ~70k for public sale. Launch partner: Animoca Brands.
- 10,000 unique Kodas randomly distributed across land plots as rare NFTs.
- Third-party game pipeline: Animoca (racing game), NWay (PvP arena), plus arcade-style minigames.

## Market

- Formal TAM/SAM/SOM framework not presented.
- Market context provided: OpenSea (largest NFT marketplace) saw 600x transaction volume increase in 2021; daily volume exceeding $150M in 2022 YTD; 1M+ active user wallets.
- BAYC collections account for ~10% of OpenSea volume.
- App store gaming context (used to size metaverse opportunity): Games = 71% of total app revenue in 2020; iOS $47.6B + Google Play $31.9B in 2020; annual app revenue grew from $43.5B (2016) to $111B (2020).
- Fortnite benchmark: $5.4B (2018), $3.7B (2019), $5.1B (2020).

## Revenue model

Five distinct revenue streams identified:

| Stream | Mechanism | Notes |
| -- | -- | -- |
| NFT Primary Sales | Mint price × units sold | Land plots @ 1 ETH conservative floor; also BAYC/MAYC/BAKC original mints |
| NFT Secondary Royalties (S) | % of secondary trading volume on OpenSea / marketplaces | Applied to BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, Land, Goblins collections |
| New NFT Collections | Primary mint revenue from new IP (MechaDog, Mecha Ape, Kodas, Goblins) | Pipeline per roadmap |
| Games | Revenue from blockchain-based P2E games and app store games | Costs $28.2M budgeted for 2022, return claimed at 20x |
| Merchandise / Events | Merch drops + APE Fest ticket/merch revenue | Community building bucket, $15.9M cost budgeted |

- APECoin / token economics: Deck mentions "% of APE Token" as a revenue line but no specifics on tokenomics economics or treasury split are provided.
- COGS is almost entirely nominal (6.49M / $539M revenue = 1.2% in 2022 budget), consistent with digital-asset model where production cost is decoupled from unit economics.

## Traction & metrics

**Financials ($ millions):**
| Metric | Actual 2021 | Budget 2022 |
| -- | -- | -- |
| Total Revenue | $137.58M | $539.30M |
| COGS | $6.23M | $6.49M |
| Gross Profit | $131.35M | $532.81M |
| Gross Margin | 95.5% | 98.8% |
| Total OpEx | $4.24M | $77.61M |
| Net Revenue (EBIT proxy) | $127.11M | $455.20M |
| Net Margin | 92.4% | 84.4% |

**Key metrics headline (context unclear - likely 2022 budget vs. prior period):**
- Revenue: $402M, +306%
- Net Revenue: $328M, +258%
- Note: These figures are inconsistent with the income statement ($539M / $455M); likely represent a subset period or different cut. Flag as data gap.

**Monthly net revenue before tax - 2022 budget ($ millions):**
Jan $8.0 | Feb $2.5 | Mar $175.1 | Apr $5.5 | May $4.3 | Jun $15.1 | Jul $6.3 | Aug $194.1 | Sep $20.7 | Oct $19.2 | Nov $18.1 | Dec $17.1
(March spike = Land Sale 1; August spike = Land Sale 2)

**2022 Revenue channel mix:**
- Land Sales (primary): 66.2%
- BAYC Secondary: 19.5%
- Mecha Ape: 9.3%
- Land Sales Secondary: 3.6%
- Goblins Secondary: 1.0%
- Mechanical Dogs: 0.4%

**NFT collection floor prices (as of Feb 2022):**
- BAYC: 117 ETH floor, 6.3K unique holders
- MAYC: 24.4 ETH floor, 11.6K unique holders
- BAKC: 9.9 ETH floor, 5.4K unique holders

**Community / social (as of Feb 2022):**
- Twitter: 625K followers; +163,534 last 30 days; 18M profile visits in January; 545K mentions; 9.45M impressions
- Instagram: 550K followers; +167,670 last 30 days; 12,900 avg likes/post; reached 1.3M accounts in 30 days
- Discord: 135,251 total members; 67,128 visitors in past 28 days; 16,706 comms users (voice + text)
- APE Fest 2021 NYC: max capacity yacht + warehouse party; $100K raised for charity; 3-day event

**2021 BAYC + MAYC secondary sales:** $106.7M projected net rev (ongoing throughout year)

**Roadmap projected revenue line items (2022):**
- Land Sale 1 (1–100K): Primary $178.2M + Secondary $10.9M
- Land Sale 2 (101–200K): Primary $178.2M + Secondary $8.5M
- BAKC / MechaDog: $16M
- Ultimate Mecha Ape: $50M
- Koda Airdrop secondary sales: $2.3M

## Unit economics

- Gross margin: 95.5% actual 2021, 98.8% budget 2022 - characteristic of NFT primary sales with near-zero digital COGS.
- Land sale unit economics: 1 ETH per plot (conservative) × 100K genesis plots = ~$200M primary; cost of land sale development = $4.6M; implied return = 77x.
- Games investment: $28.2M cost, claimed 20x return.
- Community building: $15.9M cost, return described as "priceless".

## Competition / moat

- Moat framed around: (1) brand IP ownership model - members hold commercial rights, creating a distributed marketing army of thousands; (2) celebrity and cultural endorsement (Bieber, Curry, Snoop, Fallon, etc.) creating cultural legitimacy; (3) community engagement depth (Discord, treasure hunts, live events); (4) first-mover in NFT-native metaverse with existing audience vs. Web2 incumbents (Meta, Roblox, Decentraland described as "underwhelming").
- Direct NFT competitors not named. Crypto/Web2 metaverse players (Meta/Horizon, Sandbox, Decentraland) referenced negatively as siloed and boring.
- BAYC collections cited as ~10% of OpenSea volume, validating dominant NFT market position.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

**Founders (pseudonymous):**
- Gordon Goner - Co-President
- Gargamel - Co-President
- NoSass - Chief Product Officer
- EmperorTomatoKetchup - Chief Technology Officer

**Key executives (named):**
- Nicole Muniz (V Strange) - CEO, minority partner; 10+ yrs consumer marketing (Google, Facebook, Nike, HBO, Spotify)
- Jasmin Shoemaker (Soda) - COO; 15+ yrs tech ops (Apple, Facebook)
- Patrick Ehrlund (Pez) - CCO, minority partner; 15+ yrs brand storytelling (EA, Google, HBO)
- Guy Oseary - minority partner; media mogul, founder of Maverick (U2, Madonna), co-founder Sound Ventures with Ashton Kutcher

**Team:** 46 employees from Google, Oculus, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Amex, gaming studios; 46% female.

**Funding ask / use of funds:** Not explicitly stated in deck. Round size, valuation, and use of proceeds not disclosed.

---

## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** NFT IP + Metaverse Multi-Stream P&L. Yuga Labs is not a SaaS or traditional DTC business - its revenue is driven by discrete NFT drop events (primary sales), ongoing secondary royalty streams, game monetisation, and token economics. The correct model is a **drop-event-driven P&L with secondary royalty annuity streams**, similar in structure to a gaming publisher / media IP model layered with a royalty income statement. The income statement skeleton already exists in the deck (slide 85) and should be the anchor.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years (2022–2024), monthly for Year 1 (land drop timing is critical; 2 discrete $178M spikes drive 70%+ of revenue), quarterly for Years 2–3.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value | Source |
| -- | -- | -- |
| Land plots total | 200,000 | - |
| Genesis drop size | 100,000 plots | - |
| Genesis drop date (Drop 1) | March 2022 | - |
| Land price per plot - conservative | 1 ETH | - |
| ETH/USD rate at drop 1 | ~$2,800 | ETH price Feb 2022 approx. spot; model should use a rate assumption with sensitivity |
| Drop 2 size | 100,000 plots | - |
| Drop 2 date | August 2022 | - |
| Secondary royalty rate on land | 5–10% - standard NFT royalty; deck does not disclose exact rate |
| Secondary royalty rate on BAYC/MAYC/BAKC | 2.5–5%; 2021 secondary rev $106.7M implies high volume |
| BAYC secondary trading volume sustain rate | Declines from 2021 peak as crypto market normalises; apply 30–50% YoY decline for sensitivity |
| Mecha Ape revenue | $50M (2022) | - |
| BAKC / MechaDog revenue | $16M (2022) | - |
| Koda secondary sales | $2.3M (2022) | - |
| Gross margin | 98.8% budget / 95.5% actual | - |
| Advertising & community opex | $15.25M (2022 budget) | - |
| Product & technology opex | $37.06M (2022 budget) | - |
| Payroll & benefits | $17.10M (2022 budget) | - |
| Legal & professional | $3.20M (2022 budget) | - |
| Other expenses | $5.00M (2022 budget) | - |
| Headcount growth rate (Yr 2–3) | 30–50% per year given early-stage hiring ramp |
| APECoin / token revenue | Not modelled in base case - no tokenomics detail in deck; treat as upside |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - **Base:** Both land drops execute on schedule (Mar + Aug 2022) at 1 ETH/plot; ETH at ~$2,500; secondary royalties sustain at ~50% of 2021 run rate; game revenues per budget.
  - **Bull:** ETH price runs to $4,000+; land plots sell above 1 ETH floor; secondary volumes stay elevated; APECoin creates additional treasury value.
  - **Bear:** Crypto market selloff - ETH drops to $1,000–$1,500; land sale demand weak (floor holds but public auction undersubscribed); secondary royalty volumes collapse 70%+; game investments delayed.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. **Assumptions** - all drivers above, ETH/USD rate toggle, drop dates, royalty rate inputs.
  2. **Revenue Build** - monthly for 2022 with drop events modelled as point-in-time; by stream (Land Primary, Land Secondary, BAYC Secondary, MAYC Secondary, BAKC Secondary, New NFT drops, Games, Merch/Events).
  3. **Income Statement** - matching deck structure (Revenue → COGS → Gross Profit → OpEx by category → Net Revenue); annual + monthly 2022.
  4. **OpEx Schedule** - headcount plan driving payroll; marketing/community building tied to events calendar.
  5. **Cash Flow (simplified)** - given near-zero COGS, net revenue approximates cash; show cumulative cash generation and implied runway/treasury.
  6. **Dashboard** - KPI cards: Total Revenue, Net Revenue, Gross Margin %, Net Margin %; land drop progress tracker; revenue channel mix pie.
  7. **Sensitivity Table** - Net Revenue vs. ETH price (x-axis) × land plots sold (y-axis); secondary royalty rate sensitivity.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Yuga Labs financial model free?

Yes. The Yuga Labs model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.