KAIO Secures $8 Million in Funding from Tether to Revolutionize On-Chain Fund Distribution

KAIO, a tokenization firm based in Abu Dhabi, announced on Monday that it has successfully raised $8 million in a strategic funding round, with Tether and several other prominent crypto and institutional investors participating. This investment brings KAIO's total funding to $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining the round, alongside returning investors like Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO specializes in creating infrastructure that allows asset managers to distribute their funds on the blockchain, having already tokenized products from notable 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 intends to launch an on-chain fund in partnership with Mubadala Capital, an Emirati private equity firm with $385 billion in assets under management. By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO seeks 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, the issuer of the most widely used stablecoin USDT, aims to channel liquidity into regulated investment products, leveraging USDT's $185 billion supply to facilitate cross-border transactions, particularly in emerging markets. According to Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, KAIO's innovative approach unlocks new pathways for capital formation and investment by bringing institutional-grade assets on-chain and making them more accessible, thus expanding participation in global financial markets. KAIO's platform is designed with compliance in mind, supporting regulated distribution frameworks in jurisdictions such as Abu Dhabi, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore. To date, the company has tokenized approximately $100 million in assets and processed over $500 million in transactions.