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 supported by several prominent crypto and institutional investors. This funding round brings the company's total investment to $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining the round, while existing investors like Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital also participated. KAIO is focused on creating infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute their funds on the blockchain. The company has already tokenized products from leading 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. The firm is also set to launch an on-chain fund in collaboration with Mubadala Capital, a private equity firm from the UAE with $385 billion in assets under management. By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO aims 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.
Tether's involvement in the funding round is expected to facilitate the integration of stablecoin flows, with the goal of channeling liquidity into regulated investment products. According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, 'KAIO's unique approach unlocks new pathways for capital formation and investment by bringing institutional-grade assets onto the blockchain and making them more broadly accessible, which helps expand participation in global financial markets.' KAIO's platform is designed to embed compliance into its system and support 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.