Mitti Labs raises $9.5 million in Series A funding to expand its innovative water-saving and methane-reducing rice cultivation methods using satellite-based verification and carbon credits, targeting India, Philippines, and Indonesia.
Mitti Labs, a climate tech startup founded in 2023, has raised $9.5 million in a Series A round led by Aramco Ventures, with backing from Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Volta Circle and existing investor Lightspeed India. The company said it will use the money to scale its work across India and launch new projects in the Philippines and Indonesia, while also widening its alternate wetting and drying programme.
At the centre of Mitti Labs’ pitch is a farming method known as AWD, or alternate wetting and drying. Rather than keeping rice paddies permanently flooded, farmers let fields dry to a measured level before re-flooding them on a set cycle. The company says the approach can cut water use by as much as 40% and reduce methane emissions by more than half.
Mitti Labs pairs that agronomy model with a verification system it calls GeoAI, which combines satellite radar, ground data and physical models to build a digital twin of each plot. The aim is to track soil moisture, flooding and crop health closely enough to confirm the environmental savings at scale. The startup says those verified reductions can then be converted into carbon credits, which it sells to companies seeking to offset emissions.
Co-founder Xavi Laguarta Soler said the company’s technology and operating model could change how rice is grown while improving resilience for 150 million smallholder farmers. The latest round takes Mitti Labs’ total funding to more than $12.5 million. It also arrives as investor interest in India’s clean technology sector remains strong, supported by government incentives, net-zero commitments and wider adoption of green technologies.
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