Indian Climate Tech Startup Varaha Secures $20M Series B to Scale Carbon Removal Infrastructure Across Global South

Varaha, an India-based climate technology startup, has secured $20 million in fresh capital as part of a planned $45 million Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital. This marks the venture firm's inaugural investment in the climate tech sector, with participation from existing investors including RTP Global and Omnivore.

The funding will enable Varaha to scale its carbon removal infrastructure across Asia and Africa, positioning the company as a cost-competitive supplier of verified emissions reductions in the global voluntary carbon market.

Operational Scale and Market Position

Since its founding in 2022, Varaha has raised approximately $33 million in equity financing, supplemented by $35 million in project financing and $500,000 in grant funding. The startup has successfully removed over 2 million tons of CO₂ across 14 active projects, generating approximately 150,000 verified carbon removal credits.

According to co-founder and CEO Madhur Jain, Varaha achieved revenue of ₹430 million (~$4.76 million) in the previous financial year and projects revenue growth to nearly ₹2 billion (~$22.15 million) in the current fiscal year while maintaining post-tax profitability.

Technical Infrastructure and Verification Standards

Varaha operates across four primary carbon removal pathways:

• Regenerative agriculture
• Agroforestry
• Biochar production
• Enhanced rock weathering

The company generates and commercializes carbon removal credits through multiple international registries, including:

• Puro.earth
• Isometric
• Verra
• Gold Standard
• Carbon Standards International (Switzerland)

Varaha claims to be the first entity in India to issue biochar-based carbon credits and the first in Asia to issue enhanced rock weathering credits through international verification frameworks.

Cost Optimization Through Geographic Arbitrage

Jain emphasized that Varaha's competitive advantage stems from execution efficiency rather than proprietary technology. Operating from India and other emerging markets provides significant cost advantages—estimated at 1.5x to 3x lower than comparable operations in North America and Europe—while maintaining equivalent international verification standards.

"If carbon credit is a cost to the businesses that are buying these carbon credits, it's a cost on their balance sheet. It's not a CSR item," Jain explained. "And hence, if the cost of a certain geography is going to be so high by an order of magnitude of like, 1.5x to 3x credit production, it is going to be extremely hard for those companies to survive."

Enterprise Customer Base and Offtake Agreements

Varaha has secured long-term carbon removal offtake agreements with major technology and enterprise customers, including:

• Google (world's largest biochar carbon removal agreement)
• Microsoft (Asia's first durable carbon removal offtake)
• Lufthansa
• Swiss Re
• Capgemini

Geographic Footprint and Expansion Strategy

Currently, Varaha operates across five countries: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Ivory Coast. The company works with approximately 170,000-175,000 smallholder farmers across roughly 1.7 million acres of agricultural land.

The new capital will fund geographic expansion into South and Southeast Asian markets, including Vietnam and Indonesia, while deepening operational presence in existing territories.

Industrial Partners Program

Varaha is launching an Industrial Partners Program designed to enable industrial operators with access to sustainable biomass and gasification infrastructure to generate verified biochar-based carbon removal credits using Varaha's measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems.

The program is already operational with partners in West Africa and India, including agribusiness operators and steel producers, representing a strategic shift toward asset-light scaling through partnership models.

Organizational Structure

Varaha employs approximately 225-230 personnel, with over 80% based in India. The technical team comprises roughly 55 specialists across technology, science, product, and data engineering functions. While the company maintains no physical offices outside India, it has distributed team members in Nepal, Germany, the United States, and Australia to support international operations.

"We believe Varaha is uniquely positioned to build a global carbon-removal platform from India, combining integrity, scale, and impact," said Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing partner at WestBridge Capital. "This investment reflects our conviction in the team and their potential to shape the next phase of climate infrastructure worldwide."

Sources:

Varaha Official Website