Token creation platform Doppler raises $9 million seed round led by Pantera Capital

Doppler, an onchain token creation and launch protocol, has raised $9 million in a seed funding round as it looks to become the default infrastructure for tokenized assets.

The round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Variant, Figment Capital, and Coinbase Ventures, Doppler said Thursday. Doppler is one of two products built by Whetstone Research, alongside Pure Markets, an interface where users can swap any asset created through Doppler for "free."

The seed round was raised by Whetstone Research in a single tranche in the second quarter of 2025, Austin Adams, creator of the Doppler protocol and founder of Whetstone Research, told The Block. Adams said the startup waited to announce the round until now as it enters its next phase of growth. Whetstone had previously raised a $1.3 million pre-seed round led by Variant, with participation from Uniswap Ventures, Nascent, and Credibly Neutral, Adams said.

Both rounds were structured as simple agreements for future equity, or SAFEs, with token warrants, Adams added. He declined to disclose the valuation.

What is Doppler? 

Since launching nine months ago, Doppler says it has become the default platform for launching new tokens on Base and is now aiming to extend that position across blockchains and asset classes.

Adams said Doppler differentiates itself from platforms like Pump.fun by focusing on market structure and outcomes, rather than simply making it easy to create a token.

"Anyone can create a token on Doppler — but serious teams work with us because they understand that the mechanism of how you create a market matters as much as what token you’re creating," Adams said. "Doppler is the easiest to integrate, off the shelf, audited solution, that will help teams get to market in as little as two weeks. Doppler’s existing integrations with aggregators, info explorers, and routers ensure assets are widely distributed and available wherever users care."

Doppler compresses what Adams described as months of infrastructure work — including token deployment, vesting, liquidity bootstrapping, governance, and fee routing — into a single interface. At the core of the protocol are price discovery auctions designed to limit the impact of snipers while generating protocol-owned liquidity from day one, allowing teams to focus on building products rather than custom launch mechanics, Adams said.

Doppler has entered the market at a time when some argue that crypto does not need more tokens. Adams said the market needs higher-quality assets to invest in, and that necessitates new assets. Doppler said more than 40,000 assets are created daily using its platform, representing over $1.5 billion in value and more than $1 billion in cumulative trading volume.

As for its business model, Doppler earns trading fees on assets created through the protocol, regardless of where they are traded, Adams said.

The Whetstone team currently consists of about 10 people primarily based in New York City, Adams said, adding that he is actively hiring protocol engineers and researchers.

Notably, Whetstone, Doppler, and Pure Markets all use distinct domains for their websites. Adams said Doppler.lol, which the team internally jokes stands for “liquidity on line,” focuses on bringing liquidity online and making it easily accessible. Pure.st is aimed at what Adams described as the “purest” or highest-quality assets that can be created permissionlessly through its interface. Whetstone.cc, he added, reflects the firm’s broader mission, with “.cc” standing for “custom capital.”

The Funding newsletter:  Stay on top of the latest crypto VC funding and M&A deals, news, and trends with my free bi-monthly newsletter, The Funding. Sign up here!