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Climate-tech startup Varaha has announced the raising of USD 8.7 million funding in Series A round led by RTP Global with contributions from Omnivore and Orios Venture Partners.
Norinchukin Bank, the biggest institutional investor in Japan, AgFunder, and Octave Wellbeing Economy Fund, an investment arm of IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group, were also involved in the round.
According to the release, Varaha plans to use the raised funds to expand its operations to new regions in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and to improve its technological and scientific capabilities in order to meet the growing demand for premium carbon credits.
In December 2022, the startup raised USD 4 million in the seed round.
Madhur Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Varaha, said, “With nearly 24 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions stemming from the agricultural sector, Varaha’s mission to sequester and reduce carbon emissions is more critical than ever. Today’s funding is a testament to our commitment to drive impactful change.”
Founded in 2022 by Madhur Jain, Ankita Garg and Vishal Kuchanur, Varaha is a climate-tech startup dedicated to offsetting greenhouse gas emissions by developing and incentivizing nature-based carbon projects. It claims to use cutting-edge technology, such as machine learning, remote sensing, and scientific models, to guarantee the highest standards of quality and verifiability.
With the enrollment of more than 700,000 acres of land in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Kenya, Varaha has already made significant progress. It works with more than 100 partners across these geographies to onboard smallholder farmers, with plans to increase this number by 4X in the next 12-15 months.
The startup claims that it has already contracted and sold more than 230,000 carbon credits across a diversified project portfolio. Its customers include some of the largest marketplaces in the world, such as Klimate in Denmark, Good Carbon in Germany, Carbon Future in Switzerland, top-tier companies in Europe, with strong interest also coming from financial institutions and tech companies across the UK and US.
