NFT Brand Pudgy Penguins Raises $9M for IP Play

The future of Web3 intellectual property is at the center of Pudgy Penguins’ new $9 million seed round

article-image

vladsilver/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

In a bid to expand its Web3 intellectual property, Pudgy Penguins has raised $9 million in a seed round with lead investor 1kx.

The popular NFT brand has expanded its IP since launching in 2021 and an acquisition by now-CEO Luca Netz in April 2022. The company announced that its Pudgy GIFs have garnered 3 billion views and its Instagram following has ballooned to hundreds of thousands.

On Discord, which often has the most dedicated community participants, the brand boasts over 40,000 members.

Netz said in a statement that Pudgy Penguins isn’t just a NFT project, heavily emphasizing the community aspect to the brand. Some 4,592 owners own the total supply of 8,888 Pudgy Penguin NFTs, a collection of images of penguins in various outfits. 

“[Pudgy Penguins] is a transcendent IP brand that is providing a community of both crypto-native and non-crypto native consumers with enjoyable products, experiences, and content,” Netz said. “With the backing of our partners and community, we are excited to create the leading Web3 IP brand of tomorrow.”

Vi Powlis, head of investor relations at Pudgy Penguins, added that this latest fundraise is a sign of the company’s continued resilience in the face of a bear market. 

“Today’s milestone is a testament to the vision of our strategic partners, who recognized that Pudgy Penguins is not only a Web3 brand for crypto-natives, but also an accessible IP for everyday consumers around the world,” Powlis said. 

Other investors in the popular NFT and Web3 brand include Big Brain Holdings, Kronos Research, Old Fashion Research and CRIT Ventures. 

Blockworks previously reported in March that Pudgy Penguins could be featured in Amazon’s forthcoming NFT marketplace.

Trading volume in the last seven days has been $3.43 million, per NFT Stats. The collection’s floor price currently stands at about 4.4 ETH (around $8,100).


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Maple Finance has successfully navigated significant market challenges through its strategic pivot to secured lending (Maple v2) and the launch of its Syrup product. Syrup has become a primary growth driver, delivering sustainable, outperforming stablecoin yields and rapidly increasing TVL. The upcoming custody-first Bitcoin staking product (istBTC) presents another significant avenue for expansion. Crucially, Maple has achieved operational profitability, a key inflection point that, combined with a fully vested token and active buyback mechanism, strengthens its investment case. While valuation metrics suggest potential undervaluation relative to peers and growth, the primary forward-looking risk identified is the long-term sustainability of its current high-take-rate collateral staking revenue model.

article-image

Mersinger’s final day at the CFTC will be May 30

article-image

Squads CEO Stepan Simkin explained why the firm launched Altitude and how he’s thinking about stablecoins

article-image

Sponsored

Instead of endless wallet popups, users could connect once, set clear rules, and delegate permission to an app or to an AI agent.

article-image

Prediction markets show that people bet in anticipation of things happening far too often

article-image

The agency’s final deadline is in October

article-image

Higher inflation historically lags behind tariff implementation, so don’t celebrate just yet