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 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, and Further Ventures and Laser Digital providing additional support alongside earlier backers, including Brevan Howard Digital.
KAIO is focused on developing infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute funds on the blockchain. The firm has created tokens for products from companies like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, making them accessible through blockchain-based systems. With this new investment, KAIO plans to expand its product 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 the funding round ties into the firm's goal of channeling stablecoin liquidity into regulated investment products, with USDT being the most widely used stablecoin, boasting a $185 billion supply, and often utilized for cross-border transactions, particularly in emerging markets. 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 incorporates 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 over $500 million in transactions.