Indian company Varaha has secured $20 million to scale decarbonisation in the Global South

Varaha, an India-based climate technology startup, has raised $20 million in new funding as it looks to scale decarbonization projects from the Global South and position itself as a low-cost supplier of proven emissions reductions.

This investment represents the first part of a planned $45 million Series B round led by WestBridge Capital, and is the venture firm’s first investment in climate technology, with participation from existing investors including RTP Global and Omnivore. Founded in 2022, Varaha has raised about $33 million in equity to date, along with $35 million in venture funding and $500,000 in grants, as it builds decarbonization projects across Asia and Africa.

India has emerged as an increasingly important base for decarbonization projects, offering lower operating costs, deep agricultural supply chains, and a large pool of technical talent as corporate demand for verified decarbonization surges, including from companies facing rising energy use from data centers and AI workloads. Varaha is poised to capitalize on these advantages, arguing that its execution-focused model allows it to decarbonize at a lower cost while meeting the same international verification standards as higher-priced competitors in Europe and North America.

Varaha’s advantage lies not so much in proprietary technology as in execution, Madhur Jain, Varaha’s co-founder and CEO, said in an interview, arguing that high operating costs could become a barrier for decarbonization developers in wealthier markets as prices come under pressure.

“If a carbon credit is a cost to companies that buy these carbon credits… that’s a cost on their balance sheet. It’s not an element of CSR,” Jain told TechCrunch. “So, if the cost to a particular geographic area is going to be very high at 1.5 to 3 times the credit production, it will be very difficult for those companies to survive.”

Varaha develops decarbonisation projects across four main streams: regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, biochar and enhanced rock weathering, working largely with smallholder farmers and industrial partners in emerging markets. The startup creates and sells carbon removal credits certified through international registries, including Puro.earth, Isometric, Verra, Gold Standard and Switzerland-based Carbon Standards International, positioning itself as a resource for global companies seeking permanently and independently verified emissions reductions.

So far, Varaha has removed more than two million tons of carbon dioxide across 14 active projects, generating about 150,000 decarbonization credits, Jain said. He added that the startup was the first in India to issue carbon credits from biochar projects and the first in Asia to issue credits from enhanced rock weathering through an international registry.

Varaha reported revenues of INR 430 million (about US$4.76 million) last fiscal year from advance credits and expects revenues to rise to nearly INR 2 billion (about US$22.15 million) this year, while remaining profitable after tax.

The startup has signed long-term offtake agreements with global buyers including Google and Microsoft, as well as companies such as Lufthansa, Swiss Re and Capgemini.

Jain said Varaha currently operates across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Ivory Coast, working with about 170,000 to 175,000 farmers on approximately 1.7 million acres. The latest funding will be used to expand into additional markets in South and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Indonesia, while deepening its presence in existing geographies.

The startup is also launching an Industrial Partner Program, which allows industrial operators to access sustainable biomass and gasification capacity to generate biochar-based carbon removal credits using Varaha’s metering, reporting and verification systems. The program has already been rolled out with partners in West Africa and India, including agricultural companies and steel producers, as Varaha looks to scale decarbonisation through partnerships rather than owning all the assets himself.

“The problem is so big that the technology, etc., will become open source over a period of time,” Jain said. “So the most important thing is implementation.”

Varaha employs approximately 225 to 230 people, including approximately 55 employees across technology, science, products and data, with more than 80% of its workforce based in India. Although the startup does not maintain offices abroad, it has employees in markets including Nepal, Germany, the US and Australia, reflecting its growing international client base.

“We believe Varaha is uniquely positioned to build a global decarbonization platform from India, combining integrity, scale and impact,” said Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing partner of WestBridge Capital. “This investment reflects our belief in the team and its ability to shape the next phase of climate infrastructure around the world.”