Donut raises $7 million to build AI-driven crypto browser

Donut, a new crypto-native browser purpose-built for autonomous agents, announced on May 29 that it has secured $7 million in pre-seed funding to reimagine how users and AI interact with the decentralized web.

The round was led by Hongshan (formerly Sequoia China), BITKRAFT Ventures, and HackVC, with additional backing from Sky9 Ventures, Matrix Partners, Makers Fund, Altos Ventures, Orthogonal Ventures, Vessel Ventures, and SonicSVM.

The funding will support Donut’s product development, talent recruitment, and early community growth as it races to become the primary browsing layer for crypto-native AI agents and users.

Unlike traditional browsers, which separate content consumption from financial execution, Donut integrates crypto wallets, networks, and DEXs into a unified, programmable interface.

It allows users, and AI agents acting on their behalf, to discover tokens, place bets, swap assets, and earn yield instantly from the browsing environment.

Donut founder and CEO Chris Zhu said:

“Traditional browsers weren’t built for crypto or agents. We’re rebuilding the front-end of the internet to be hyper-financialized, contextual, and agent-driven.”

Zhu previously worked across crypto and frontier technology projects, and co-founded Mirror World, a Solana-based smart contract gaming protocol. His new venture reflects a growing belief that crypto applications will increasingly rely on agentic systems to navigate the complexity and speed of onchain environments.

Donut’s browser is powered by an in-domain AI model trained specifically for crypto contexts, supported by a swarm of autonomous browser agents.

These agents operate via a headless browsing engine layered with the CodeAct framework and MCP Client, allowing them to parse data, execute trades, or trigger smart contract interactions at scale.

According to the company, these agents can analyze information, simulate decisions, and transact, offloading the cognitive load from users in fast-moving markets.

Tim Fan, Donut’s Chief Scientist and a former AI researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and Meta AI, will lead the technical leadership.

Fan said:

“Our vision is that agents — not people — will execute most crypto transactions in the future. We’re building the tools and infrastructure to make that a reality.”

Donut positions itself at the intersection of several emerging trends: agentic computing, headless execution, embedded finance, and autonomous market participation.

In contrast to crypto wallets or trading dashboards that act as discrete tools, Donut integrates these components into a real-time execution layer, turning browsing into a stream of opportunities for action.

The company is actively hiring across research, design, and product roles, including prompt engineers, AI scientists, graphic designers, and community growth leads. Open roles are listed on Donut’s careers page, as the team looks to scale the product ahead of a broader launch.

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