KAIO, a tokenization company regulated by Abu Dhabi, announced on Monday that it has secured $8 million in funding from a strategic round backed by Tether and other prominent crypto and institutional investors. This investment brings KAIO's total funding to $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining, and Further Ventures and Laser Digital participating again alongside earlier backers like Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO is focused on creating infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute their funds on blockchain. The company has developed tokens for products from firms like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, making them accessible through blockchain-based systems.
With this new investment, KAIO plans to expand its offerings to include credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds, and is set to launch an on-chain fund in collaboration with Mubadala Capital, an Emirati private equity firm with $385 billion in assets under management. By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO aims to lower the barriers to entry for investors, with minimum investments starting at $100 for eligible users, significantly lower than the typical thresholds for institutional funds. Tether's involvement in this funding round connects the model to stablecoin flows, with USDT being the most widely used stablecoin, boasting a $185 billion supply, often utilized for cross-border transactions, especially in emerging markets.
KAIO intends to channel this liquidity into regulated investment products. According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, 'KAIO's unique position unlocks new pathways for capital formation and investment by bringing institutional-grade assets on-chain and making them more broadly accessible, helping expand participation in global financial markets.' KAIO's platform embeds compliance into its system and supports regulated distribution frameworks, including those in Abu Dhabi, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore.
The company has tokenized around $100 million in assets and has processed over $500 million in transactions.