Mirova, a French climate-focused investment firm, has invested $30.5 million in the Indian climate tech startup Varaha. This investment will help expand the startup’s regenerative farming program, which supports hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in northern India.
The deal represents Mirova’s first carbon investment in India and features an unusual structure. Instead of taking equity, the Paris-based firm is investing cash and will receive a share of the carbon credits generated over time. This arrangement is part of Mirova’s carbon investment strategy, which directs corporate capital into verified emissions-reduction projects. Mirova is an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers and is backed by corporate heavyweights including Kering, Orange, L’Occitane Group, Capgemini, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, and MANE. These companies are all seeking to offset supply-chain emissions through credible carbon initiatives.
Regenerative farming is a practice that restores soil health and enhances biodiversity through methods like crop rotation and reduced tillage. It is gaining traction as a practical approach to making agriculture more resilient to climate change. In India, where millions of small farmers face declining soil fertility and erratic rainfall, the approach is as much about survival as sustainability.
Founded in 2022, Varaha designs and operates carbon projects across regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and biochar. It works through a network of 48 local partners to carry out field operations. Its software monitors these projects in real-time, reporting and verifying both climate and social outcomes.
Mirova is investing in Varaha’s Kheti project, which works with farmers in the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab. The project helps farmers adopt low-emission practices and generate verified carbon credits, providing an additional source of income. So far, the project covers over 200,000 hectares and is expected to reach around 337,000 farmers across 675,000 hectares as it scales.
Varaha’s approach is rooted in practices tailored to India’s cropping systems, especially in the country’s rice-growing belt. The startup focuses on direct seeding of rice and incorporating crop residue into the soil. This is a crucial alternative to the widespread practice of burning stubble after harvest, according to Madhur Jain, co-founder and CEO of Varaha. Instead of burning the residue, farmers use agricultural machinery to cut it on the farm and mix it back into the soil. The startup also promotes reduced tillage, cutting back from multiple ploughing rounds to just one or two, which helps conserve soil carbon and improve the soil’s capacity to store more over time.
Varaha plans to use Mirova’s investment to procure the machinery needed to implement these regenerative practices. For direct seeding of rice, which requires less water than transplanting, thousands of direct seeders are needed. Because this is not yet a conventional practice, the number of seeders available is much lower than required. Similarly, for crop residue incorporation, machines such as happy seeders and super seeders are necessary.
The credits generated under the program will be verified using Verra’s VM0042 methodology. A revenue-sharing model is designed to channel proceeds directly to participating farmers. The project is also seeking Climate, Community & Biodiversity certification from Verra, which recognizes land management projects that deliver co-benefits for the environment, local communities, and biodiversity.
While Verra is a key organization for verifying carbon credits globally, it has faced criticism following investigations that suggested some projects it approved may have overstated their carbon savings. Varaha prefers to use Verra for its regenerative farming project because the non-profit offers the most advanced scientific methodology in soil carbon. Jain stated that on the soil organic carbon side, none of Verra’s credits have been questioned so far. He also added that Varaha is not tied to any single registry and works with other leading standards including Puro and Isometric.
In addition to cutting emissions, Varaha’s technology is intended to improve soil health, reduce water use, limit chemical inputs, raise crop yields, lower farming costs, and contribute to cleaner air. The startup also plans to develop dedicated programs for women farmers, aiming to strengthen gender inclusion within rural communities.
Varaha’s worldwide reputation was helped by an agreement it signed earlier this year with Google, described as the world’s largest biochar carbon removal deal. The tech giant will purchase 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits from the startup by 2030.
Varaha’s investors include RTP Global, Omnivore, Orios Venture Partners, IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group’s Octave Wellbeing Economy Fund, and Japan’s Norinchukin Bank. The startup has raised $12.7 million in venture funding to date, including $8.7 million from a Series A round last year.