Key Takeaways:
Tether led an $8M spherical for KAIO on April 20, 2026, bringing the Abu Dhabi tokenization agency’s whole raised to $19M. KAIO has processed over $500M in transactions and manages ~$100M in AUM. The agency works with Blackrock, Nomura, First Abu Dhabi Financial institution, Brevan Howard, Chainlink Labs, and Hamilton Lane funds. KAIO plans to launch an onchain fund with Mubadala Capital, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth arm managing ~$385B in belongings.
Tether Invests in UAE Tokenization Startup KAIO to Channel USDT Into Regulated Fund Merchandise
The spherical closed April 20, 2026, and brings KAIO‘s whole capital raised to $19 million following an roughly $11 million seed spherical in July 2025. Coindesk was the primary to report on the information. Systemic Ventures joined as a brand new participant, whereas Additional Ventures and Laser Digital returned alongside present backers Brevan Howard Digital, Lyrik Ventures, Karatage, and Shorooq Companions.
KAIO builds application-chain infrastructure that enables institutional asset managers to difficulty, redeem, and switch tokenized fund shares throughout a number of jurisdictions. The corporate operates beneath regulatory oversight in Abu Dhabi, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore.
The platform has tokenized funds from Hamilton Lane, Blackrock, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard. It at the moment manages just below $100 million in belongings beneath administration (AUM) and has processed greater than $500 million in transactions, in response to rwa.xyz stats.
One in all KAIO’s said objectives is decreasing the entry bar for institutional-grade merchandise. Certified traders can entry some tokenized funds with as little as $100, in comparison with the considerably larger minimums typical in conventional institutional fund constructions.
KAIO beforehand operated beneath the title Libre Capital earlier than rebranding in 2025. It runs tokenized merchandise on a number of blockchain networks, together with Sei Community and Hedera. The brand new capital, in response to the report, is designated to broaden KAIO’s onchain fund distribution infrastructure and broaden its product vary into credit score, structured merchandise, and exchange-traded funds.
A serious initiative tied to the funding is a forthcoming onchain fund with Mubadala Capital, the funding arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, managing roughly $385 billion in belongings. That partnership was first introduced in December 2025.
Tether‘s USDT carries a market capitalization of roughly $187.24 billion, as of April 20, in response to defillama.com stats. KAIO intends to channel USDT liquidity into its regulated funding merchandise, with a concentrate on cross-border capital flows in rising markets and the UAE.
The deal displays Tether‘s continued effort to place USDT past funds and into regulated funding infrastructure. Stablecoin liquidity flowing into compliant tokenized merchandise represents a sensible use case that corporations within the Gulf area have been constructing towards for a number of years.
KAIO’s onchain fund distribution mannequin provides conventional asset managers a path to achieve certified traders who maintain digital belongings however lack entry to institutional-grade fund merchandise by means of typical channels.
The tokenization of real-world belongings has drawn growing consideration from sovereign wealth funds, international asset managers, and digital asset corporations on the lookout for regulated, yield-bearing merchandise that function on public blockchain infrastructure.
