On Monday, KAIO, a tokenization firm regulated by Abu Dhabi, announced that it had successfully raised $8 million in a strategic funding round, with Tether being one of the key backers. This investment round also saw the participation of several other prominent crypto and institutional investors. The total funding for KAIO now stands at $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining in, while Further Ventures and Laser Digital continued their support alongside earlier backers, including Brevan Howard Digital.
KAIO is focused on developing infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute their funds on the blockchain. The company has created tokens for products from renowned firms like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, making them accessible through blockchain-based systems.
With the newly acquired funds, KAIO plans to expand its offerings to include credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds. Furthermore, the firm is set to launch an on-chain fund in collaboration with Mubadala Capital, a private equity firm from the UAE 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. The involvement of Tether in this funding round connects the model to stablecoin flows, with USDT being the most widely used stablecoin, boasting a supply of $185 billion, often utilized for cross-border transactions, especially in emerging markets.
KAIO seeks 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 integrates compliance into its system and supports regulated distribution frameworks, including those in Abu Dhabi, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore. The company has tokenized approximately $100 million in assets and has processed transactions valued at over $500 million.