Saudi Aramco Backs India's Mitti Labs to Cut Rice Farming's Water and Methane Footprint

As rising temperatures strain Asia's water-intensive rice farming, climate-tech startup Mitti Labs has raised $9.5 million in Series A funding led by Aramco Ventures, the venture arm of Saudi Aramco, TechCrunch reported on August 5.

The Funding

The round included existing backer Lightspeed India, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle. It brings Mitti Labs' total raised to $12.5 million, following a $3 million seed round in July 2024. The investment marks Aramco Ventures' first bet on an Indian startup.

The Technology

Mitti Labs' GeoAI platform combines synthetic aperture radar satellite imagery with years of field measurements to create digital twins of individual rice fields. The startup says it can monitor crop growth, soil moisture, and methane emissions across thousands of smallholder farms, where the average holding is about one hectare. Farmers in its programs adopt alternate irrigation practices that cut water use by about 40% and methane emissions by more than 50% without hurting yields.

The Scale

Since launching its first programs in 2023, Mitti Labs has grown from about 8,000 farmers in its first season to more than 100,000 this season across several Indian states. The company now has more than 150 employees, most based in India, and aims to reach millions of smallholder farmers by 2030.

Customers and Revenue

Mitti Labs generates revenue from carbon credits and its GeoAI platform. Customers include carbon marketplace Cool Effect — which works with Google and American Airlines — rice producer Ebro Foods, and agricultural company Syngenta. The company plans to launch in the Philippines later this year and expand into Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets in 2027.

Why It Matters

Rice is the staple food for more than half the world's population and a major source of agricultural methane. If Mitti Labs can scale its monitoring and incentives across Asia, it could turn one of food's biggest climate liabilities into a model for precision agriculture and carbon finance.