Cleantech Startup Varaha Raises Funding To Expand Across South Asia

Climate tech startup Varaha has secured a seed funding of $4 Mn in a round led by Orios Venture Partners. The funding round also saw participation from Omnivore, RTP Global, Better Capital and CRED founder Kunal Shah. 

Varaha said it will use the fresh funds to hire talent and expand its operations across South Asia.

Varaha, founded in February 2022 by Madhur Jain, Ankita Garg and Vishal Kuchanur, generates carbon credits through its tech solutions. The Gurugram and Bengaluru-based startup helps farmers follow regenerative agricultural practices by creating carbon credits that increase their income and reduce operational costs.

Varaha’s platform enrols smallholder farmers, quantifies greenhouse gases (GHG), verifies carbon credits, and sells these credits to buyers. 

“With the impact of climate change, purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions will soon become a necessity for all commercial entities. We are excited to support and invest in Varaha as they address this large market of identifying, authenticating, and making the credits available for purchase in domestic and global markets,” said Anup Jain, managing partner at Orios Venture Partners. 

Varaha claims to have inked MoUs with several institutions and is currently working across 6 Indian states.  The startup claims to have covered over 1.32 Lakh acres of land through its nature-based solutions like agroforestry, forest conservation and reforestation activities, among others. Besides, it has sequestered over 3.5 Lakh tonnes of CO2 and saved 1.55 Lakh Mn litres of water till date, as per its website.

“Varaha’s tech platform creates fully-traceable, high integrity, carbon offsets from nature-based solutions. The sale of such offsets will catalyse climate positive activities, augment the income of smallholder farmers and rural communities, and increase biodiversity,” said Jain, cofounder and CEO of Varaha. 

Varaha competes with the likes of EKI Energy and Nuture.farm. According to a report, India’s carbon credit market is anticipated to grow to $2.4 Tn by 2027, clocking a CAGR of nearly 31% during 2020-2027. 

The increasing market size and rising awareness about climate change has seen many investment companies showing interest in climate tech startups. In November, Merak Ventures and accelerator-led fund Huddle formed a climate tech-focussed accelerator programme named ClimAct. 

During the same month, Transition VC launched a $49 Mn fund to back cleantech startups, including climate tech and emobility startups.

In August, VC fund Climate Angels announced launch of special syndicates to help investors back climate tech startups.

Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also urged Indian founders and entrepreneurs to focus on climate change and farming solutions.