2023 Midyear Recap

Welcome to your monthly Pudgy recap! As we finish the first half of the year, we wanted to rewind and take a look at our achievements so far this year and explain our mindset as we’re building the Pudgy Penguins brand and how everything ties together.

All past updates and news can be found here.

The Keynote

Our mission at Pudgy Penguins is to inspire connection. Connections between brands and consumers, between people all over the world, and between our own community. Moreover, our goal is to empower our community and enable them to create, build, and innovate in many unique ways.

$9M Seed Round

This year, we were fortunate to have found the right partners that aligned with our vision and interests of the community and we raised a $9M seed round! The round was led by 1kx with significant participation from Big Brain Holdings, Kronos Research, the founders of LayerZero Labs, Old Fashion Research, and CRIT Ventures.

If you would like to know more about our seed round, read our article here.

Pudgy Toys and Pudgy World Launch

In May, we launched our toyline, that was licensed from our holders, Pudgy Toys. The launch was incredibly successful and Pudgy Toys were #1 on amazon for three separate categories, were featured on NBC News, Toy Insider, and more. Additionally, the toys won Toy Insiders summer toy of the year!

The toy line was not only a huge success for Pudgy Penguins, it was a success for Web3 due to our Pudgy World integration. Pudgy World aims to trojan horse the public into Web3 through a seamless onboarding flow into a special experience.

#1 Brand on Instagram and GIPHY

In the past 6 months, we became the #1 Web3 brand on Instagram and GIPHY.

With consistent content output that appeals to the masses, we’ve grown our followers to over 626k at the time of writing, making Pudgy Penguins the most followed Web3 native brand on Instagram.

With thousands of GIFs and Stickers uploaded onto Giphy, we’ve accumulated over 5.7 billion views across two accounts, with June being our best month in terms of impressions, and we have no plans of slowing down.

Licensing Expo 2023

We proudly presented the Pudgy Penguins IP at this year's Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. With representatives from diverse IPs and brands in attendance, the expo provided a platform for valuable connections and deal-making opportunities. The support from The Huddle drew significant attention to the Pudgy Penguins booth and we cannot thank our community enough for showing out!

Pudgy Collectibles

Separate from the mass-produced line of Pudgy Toys, we've been working on our very own specially produced line of high-end, very limited-edition collectibles. The first one in the line was the "Shark Suit" collectible, which is based on the 1/1 Pudgy Penguin #7365. The "Shark Suit" collectible comes with a Jaws-inspired poster as well as a scannable chip!

The "Shark Suit" collectible sold out in 10 seconds on the NTWRK app and we plan to release more collectibles soon!

Key Partnerships

WME

Retail Monster

LayerZero Labs

The Community

And now, for the most important part of Pudgy Penguins, our community. We’d like to pause and celebrate those who have defined the spirit of The Huddle. The Huddle is composed of a diverse group of community builders, meme artists, developers, entrepreneurs, parents, influencers, gamers and so much more, the Huddle is a true testament to the unity that Web3 can foster. Each member brings a unique element to the mix, fostering a community that's diverse yet harmonious. In this spotlight, we'll reflect on the unforgettable moments that have shaped the first part of this year.

Subcommunities

To really be called an ecosystem, it is important that there are multiple perspectives and personalities that lead to diversity, while pushing in the same direction. A great example of this are our subcommunities and their respectives sub community leaders. Here is a list of the subcommunities that have been started because of people wanting to build for and with Pudgy Penguins and the community.

The prominent groups within the community include:

1. Pudgy Gaming
2. Pengu Princesses‍
3. Pudgylicious
4. Pudgy Fitness‍
5. Pudgy Alpha‍
6. Pudgy Asia
7. Pudgy Penguinos

There is truly no limit to people’s creativity, and seeing our community’s passion, we are always excited to be a part of and elevate community-led initiatives. If you have an idea, please visit our Discord and submit that idea under our builders channel after verifying for a holders role.

You can find and join our sub communities through the community page on our website at: https://community.pudgypenguins.com/

Community Meetups

You may see us on your timeline and in Discord, but we like to get together IRL as well! From spontaneous gatherings in cozy coffee shops to full-fledged events, these past six months have enriched our journey and paved the way for new friendships within the Huddle. As we look back, here's an overview of the numerous community meetups that have defined our collective narrative in the first half of the year.

Pudgy Wrestling - Singapore

Pudgy Korea Monthly Meetups

Pudgy Hong Kong Meetups

Pudgy Malaysia Ice Cream Hangout

Pudgy Shanghai Meetups

Pudgylicious NFT NYC Eats!

Pudgy Malaysia Kart Racing

Pudgy Penguinos NFT NYC Party

Closing Remarks

All of the partnerships, initiatives, and projects we’ve brought together in the first half of the year have only been the start to building a brand that is loved by millions. In tandem with the community, we will continue to build on the foundation we have and introduce some innovative and special initiatives we have in the pipeline.

To close off this recap, we want to thank our community for supporting us and every one of our initiatives. Like we say in every recap, our community is a big part and will continue to be a big part of the Pudgy Penguins brand.

As we continue on this journey of building the fastest growing IP brand in Web3, we are grateful that you are all on this ride with us. The Pudgy Penguins are different from the rest, and we will build, we will innovate, and we will excel.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Discord and check out our Opensea.