Key points to remember:
- Tether led an $8 million funding round for KAIO on April 20, 2026, bringing the total raised by the Abu Dhabi tokenization company to $19 million.
- KAIO has processed over $500 million in transactions and has approximately $100 million in assets under management. The company works with funds Blackrock, Nomura, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Brevan Howard, Chainlink Labs and Hamilton Lane.
- KAIO plans to launch an on-chain fund with Mubadala Capital, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth arm managing around $385 billion in assets.
Tether invests in UAE tokenization startup KAIO to Channel USDT Towards regulated fund products
The round closed on April 20, 2026 and brings KAIO’s total capital raised to $19 million after a round of approximately $11 million in July 2025. Coindesk was the first to announce the news. Systemic Ventures joined as a new participant, while Further Ventures and Laser Digital returned alongside existing backers Brevan Howard Digital, Lyrik Ventures, Karatage and Shorooq Partners.
KAIO is building an application chain infrastructure that enables institutional asset managers to issue, redeem and transfer tokenized fund shares across multiple jurisdictions. The company operates under regulatory oversight in Abu Dhabi, Cayman Islands and Singapore.
The platform has tokenized funds from Hamilton Lane, Blackrock, Laser Digital and Brevan Howard. It currently manages just under $100 million in assets under management (AUM) and has processed over $500 million in transactions, according to statistics from rwa.xyz.
One of KAIO’s stated goals is to lower the bar of entry for institutional grade products. Qualified investors can access some tokenized funds with as little as $100, compared to the significantly higher minimums typical of traditional institutional fund structures.
KAIO previously operated under the name Libre Capital before changing its name in 2025. It manages tokenized products across several blockchain networks, including Sei Network and Hedera. The new capital, according to the report, is intended to expand KAIO’s on-chain fund distribution infrastructure and expand its product range to credit, structured products and exchange-traded funds.
A major financing-related initiative is an upcoming on-chain fund with Mubadala Capital, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, managing around $385 billion in assets. This partnership was first announced in December 2025.
Attached USDT has a market capitalization of approximately $187.24 billion as of April 20, according to defillama.com statistics. KAIO intends to channel USDT liquidity in its regulated investment products, with a focus on cross-border capital flows in emerging markets and the UAE.
The agreement reflects Tether’s continued efforts to position USDT beyond payments and into a regulated investment infrastructure. Stable liquidity flowing into compliant tokenized products represents a practical use case that businesses in the Gulf region have been turning to for several years.
KAIO’s on-chain fund distribution model offers traditional asset managers a way to reach qualified investors who hold digital assets but do not have access to institutional-grade fund products through conventional channels.
The tokenization of real-world assets has attracted increasing attention from sovereign wealth funds, global asset managers and digital asset companies seeking regulated, yield-generating products running on public blockchain infrastructure.
