KAIO, a tokenization firm regulated by the Abu Dhabi authorities, has secured $8 million in funding from a strategic investment round led by Tether and other prominent crypto and institutional investors. This funding aims to support the development of infrastructure that enables the distribution of traditional funds on blockchain networks.
The total funding raised by KAIO now stands at $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining the round, alongside existing backers including Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO specializes in creating tokens for products offered by asset management firms like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, making them accessible through blockchain-based systems.
With the newly acquired funding, KAIO plans to expand its product offerings to include credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds. The firm is also 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 seeks to lower the barriers to entry for investors, with minimum investment requirements starting at $100 for eligible users, significantly lower than the typical thresholds for institutional funds. The involvement of Tether, a leading stablecoin issuer, is expected to facilitate the flow of stablecoin liquidity into regulated investment products.
According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, "KAIO's innovative approach unlocks new opportunities for capital formation and investment by bringing institutional-grade assets onto the blockchain and making them more widely accessible, thereby expanding participation in global financial markets." KAIO's platform is designed to embed compliance into its system, supporting regulated distribution frameworks in 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.