Non-Fungible Token (NFT) start-up Yuga Labs is in financing talks at a valuation between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to sources reported by The Financial Times.

Yuga Labs is behind the notable NFT collection the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which is the second most traded collection on NFT marketplace OpenSea, currently the world’s largest NFT marketplace.

An NFT is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger - or a blockchain - that certifies the uniqueness of a digital asset.

Bored Ape collectors are reportedly said to include celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, and Eminem, and the minimum price to purchase an item from the collection is $224,000.

The newspaper’s sources said the investment comes from Silicon Valley based technology venture capital (VC) firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as A16z.

The VC firm also has investments in OpenSea and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

In addition, the newspaper’s sources said that the terms of the deal may change and that it may not be finalised.

The news comes as the NFT marketplace continues to expand.

Sales of NFTs hit $24.9 billion in 2021 according to data from market tracker Dapp Radar.

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