India-based climatetech startup Varaha launched in 2022 to train smallholder farmers in sustainable agroforestry, biochar production, water management and regenerative agriculture practices like drip irrigation and reduced tillage.
It runs seven projects in India and Bangladesh that aim to help farmers improve yields and sell carbon credits for additional income. Varaha has secured $30 million from French asset manager Mirova to support a larger-scale project in India to help farmers transition to regenerative agriculture.
It is Mirova’s largest nature-based carbon deal and its first in India. The asset manager has signed on as a carbon credit off-taker.
Scaling up
The project, called Kheti, has a goal of supporting more than 330,000 smallholder farmers working 1.7 million acres of land in Haryana and Punjab, states known for wheat and rice farming. It is currently working with 25,000 farmers in the project.
In January, Varaha signed a deal to sell 200,000 tons of biochar-based carbon removal credits to Google. Varaha uses invasive tree species as feedstock for biochar production. Other buyers of its carbon credits include Klimate in Denmark, Good Carbon in Germany and Carbon Future in Switzerland. Varaha has also teamed up with Carlifonia-based Patch to link project developers to carbon credit buyers.
Topping up
Varaha’s roster of existing investors include New York-based venture capital firm RTP Global, agriculture-focused VC investors Omnivore and AgFunder, as well as India-based VC firm Orios, Japanese cooperative bank Norinchukin, and Octave’s Wellbeing Economy Fund.
