KAIO, a tokenization company regulated by Abu Dhabi, has secured $8 million in funding from a strategic investment round led by Tether and other prominent crypto and institutional investors. This brings the company's total funding to $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining existing ones like Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO is focused on building infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute their funds on blockchain.
The company has already created tokens for products from major 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 partnership with Mubadala Capital, a private equity firm with $385 billion in assets under management.
By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO aims to reduce the barriers to entry for investors, with minimum investments starting at $100 for eligible users. Tether's involvement in the project is expected to leverage the stablecoin's vast liquidity, with USDT being the most widely used stablecoin with a supply of $185 billion.
KAIO's platform is designed to embed compliance and support regulated distribution frameworks across various jurisdictions, including 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.