KAIO, an Abu Dhabi-based tokenization firm, has announced the successful completion of an $8 million strategic funding round backed by Tether and other prominent crypto and institutional investors. This investment brings KAIO's total funding to $19 million, with new investors including Systemic Ventures and returning investors such as Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO's mission is to create infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute funds on the blockchain, thereby increasing accessibility.
The company has already tokenized products from leading firms like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, making them available through blockchain-based systems. With this new investment, KAIO plans to expand its offerings to include credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds, including the launch of 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 lower the entry barriers for investors, with minimum investments starting at $100 for eligible users, significantly lower than traditional thresholds. Tether's involvement in the funding round highlights the potential for stablecoin integration, leveraging the liquidity of USDT, the most widely used stablecoin with a supply of $185 billion, to channel funds into regulated investment products.
According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, KAIO's innovative approach '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 prioritizes compliance, embedding regulatory frameworks into its system and supporting regulated distribution channels in key 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.