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Mitti Labs raises $9.5M to cut rice water use by 40%. Bangalore-based agritech startup Mitti Labs has raised $9.5 million to develop technology that could reduce water usage in rice cultivation by up to 40%. Tamiltech AI summary. Key takeaways#. * Mitti Labs, a Bangalore agritech startup, has raised $9.5 million in Series A funding for water-efficient rice cultivation technology * The company's sensor-based irrigation system can reduce water usage in rice paddies by up to 40% * India, the world's largest rice producer, could save billions of liters of water annually if the technology scales * Smallholder farmers could save approximately ₹15,000 per acre annually on water costs * The funding round was led by prominent Indian investors including Accel India and Omnivore Partners What's the News#. Bangalore-based agritech startup Mitti Labs has successfully closed a $9.5 million Series A funding round, bringing its mission to make rice cultivation more water-efficient into the spotlight. The funding announcement comes at a critical time when India faces escalating water scarcity issues, particularly in its agricultural heartlands. The round was led by Accel India, with participation from Omnivore Partners and several family offices. Details#. Founded in 2022 by IIT-Madras alumni, Mitti Labs has developed a proprietary technology that combines IoT sensors with AI algorithms to optimize water usage in rice paddies. The system monitors soil moisture levels, weather patterns, and crop growth stages in real-time, providing farmers with precise irrigation recommendations through a mobile app. The company has already piloted its technology across 500 acres in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, reporting water savings of 35-40% without compromising yield. India impact#. The implications for India are significant. Rice cultivation in India currently consumes approximately 3,000-4,000 liters of water per kilogram of rice produced, making it one of the most water-intensive crops. With Mitti Labs' technology, India could potentially save billions of liters of water annually while maintaining its position as the world's second-largest rice producer. The technology is particularly relevant for states like Punjab, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh, where water tables are rapidly declining. For smallholder farmers who form 85% of India's farming community, the potential savings of ₹15,000 per acre could be transformative. Discover more Technology News Journalism & News Industry Engineering & Technology Use cases#. The technology has applications across various Indian agricultural contexts. Large-scale rice farms in Punjab and Haryana could implement the system at scale, potentially reducing their water consumption by millions of liters annually. In water-stressed regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka, farmers could continue rice cultivation more sustainably. The system could also be adapted for other water-intensive crops like sugarcane and cotton, which together account for over 70% of India's agricultural water usage. The mobile-based approach ensures accessibility even for farmers in remote areas with limited internet connectivity. Honest take#. While the $9.5 million funding is certainly encouraging, the real challenge lies in widespread adoption among India's millions of smallholder farmers. The technology needs to be affordable, with a target price point of under ₹5,000 per acre for the sensors and app subscription. Integration with existing farming practices and local languages will be crucial for success. Additionally, while the potential environmental impact is significant, scalability remains a concern. The company must navigate complex supply chains and farmer education challenges. That said, if Mitti Labs can overcome these hurdles, it could be a game-changer for sustainable agriculture in India and potentially exportable to other rice-growing nations facing similar water challenges. Frequently asked questions. Earn XP & Rewards!

Mitti Labs raises $9.5 million to build water resilience in Asia's rice fields. Aug 05, 2026, 08:00 ET With the world's staple crop under mounting climate & water stress, funding accelerates the deployment of its rice GeoAI platform to millions of smallholder fields BENGALURU, India and NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Deep-tech company Mitti Labs today announced a $9.5 million Series A round from investors including Aramco Ventures as lead investor, alongside Lightspeed India, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle. With this new funding, the company will expand its geographical footprint in India and launch greenfield projects in the Philippines and Indonesia. In parallel, Mitti Labs will scale its GeoAI platform, a satellite technology that fuses high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with field-collected ground truth and physical models to generate digital twins of Asia's rice fields at the resolution of individual plots. Rice feeds half the world daily, but growing it takes an outsized toll on the planet. As the world's most water-intensive crop, rice consumes more than 30% of all irrigation water. Traditional farming practices where fields are continuously flooded also generate the emission of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG) responsible for one third of climate warming to date. Science-backed, low-cost transitions to alternate irrigation techniques cut water usage by close to 40%, and methane emissions by more than 50%, while maintaining yields when practiced safely and rigorously. "Growing more rice with less water is one of the world's major challenges. Demand for rice continues to grow, but record heat and changing rainfall patterns are threatening water systems and endangering food security. With our technology and scalable operational model, we can transform how rice is grown, lower emissions and cut water consumption while building resilient livelihoods for 150 million smallholder farmers," said Mitti Labs' co-founder Xavier Laguarta. The majority of the world's rice is grown on fragmented plots of less than two hectares where reliable data on practices, yields, water use, and emissions does not exist. Mitti Labs' GeoAI platform, developed with support from NASA, was built to address this gap. It leverages AI to transform raw SAR satellite data into field-level insights on crop health, soil moisture, and flooding. These insights are used to optimize irrigation practices that help conserve water and cut emissions across diverse rice varieties and agro-ecological zones. Zayed AlAmri, Executive Managing Director at Aramco Ventures, said, "Rice covers a fifth of Asia's cultivated land, and it is both a major source of methane and one of the most water-intensive crops grown. Changing farming practices is not easy, but the harder part has been knowing what is actually happening in the fields across millions of small farms. That is what Mitti Labs' AI and satellite technology aims to solve." "Solving the world's water crisis requires bringing together smallholder farmers, industry stakeholders, governments, and nonprofits to transform how rice is grown. With its unique technology and vast network of farmer-partners, Mitti Labs can unlock new revenue opportunities tied to this transition and help build the future of rice," said Hemant Mohapatra, Partner at Lightspeed India. "As an investor deeply rooted in India, we know firsthand how critical water resilience is for farming communities. Mitti Labs has built a remarkable model that leverages technology towards securing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This model has the potential to reshape rice farming all over Asia," said Burjis Godrej, Godrej Industries Group. On the operational side, Mitti Labs has established a farmer-centered model that leverages this technology to implement the practice shift to Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) on a large scale. Since launching in 2023, Mitti Labs has scaled to deliver the largest AWD rice program globally. About Mitti Labs Mitti Labs combines satellite technology, AI and field operations to create a water and climate resilient future for rice farming. To date, its programs have saved 500 billion liters of water - the equivalent of Bengaluru's annual supply. Customers include global technology, service, food and agriculture businesses such as Cool Effect, Ebro Foods, and Syngenta. Since launching in 2023, Mitti Labs has grown to 150 employees and secured $12.5 million from investors such as Lightspeed India, Aramco Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle. Visit mittilabs.earth to learn more. SOURCE Mitti Labs

Saudi Aramco backs India s Mitti Labs to make Asia s rice farming more water-resilient. Mitti Labs plans to expand beyond India and enter the Philippines and Indonesia while growing its carbon credits and agricultural data business. As rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns put Asia's water-intensive rice farming under pressure, Mitti Labs, a New York- and Bengaluru-headquartered climate-tech startup, has raised $9.5 million in an investment led by Aramco Ventures, Saudi Aramco's venture arm, to expand across Asia with a platform that combines satellite imagery, AI, and field operations to help farmers cut water use and methane emissions. Other investors in the Series A round included existing backer Lightspeed India, as well as Godrej Industries Group, Cisco, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle. With the latest funding, Mitti Labs has now raised $12.5 million, including a $3 million seed round in July 2024. Rice, the staple food for more than half the world's population, is one of the most water-intensive crops to grow. Rice fields kept under continuous flooding also account for a significant share of agricultural methane emissions. Since launching its first programs in 2023, Mitti Labs has sought to tackle the heavy water use and methane emissions associated with rice farming through its platform that fuses satellite radar imagery with years of field data collected by its teams. The startup says the technology creates digital twins of individual rice fields, allowing it to monitor crop conditions, water use, and methane emissions across thousands of smallholder farms, where the average holding is about one hectare. Mitti Labs' GeoAI platform uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from commercial and public satellites, with resolutions ranging from 50 centimeters to 10 meters, alongside years of field measurements collected by its teams. The startup's edge lies less in the satellite imagery itself than in the proprietary datasets it has built to train its AI models, allowing it to monitor crop growth, soil moisture, and flooding across smallholder farms remotely, co-founder Xavier Laguarta said in an interview. Mitti Labs has grown from working with about 8,000 farmers in its first season in 2024 to more than 100,000 this season across several Indian states, Laguarta told TechCrunch. He added that it aims to reach millions of smallholder farmers by 2030. The startup also now has more than 150 employees, with most of its workforce based in India, where field teams work directly with farmers and local organizations to help them adopt alternate irrigation practices. Farmers in Mitti Labs' programs adopt alternate irrigation practices that the company says reduce water use by about 40% and methane emissions by more than 50% without affecting yields, while generating carbon credits that provide an additional source of income. Mitti Labs generates revenue from both carbon credits and its GeoAI platform. Its customers include carbon marketplace Cool Effect, which works with companies like Google and American Airlines, as well as rice producer Ebro Foods and agricultural company Syngenta, which use Mitti Labs' data and analytics to improve water resilience across their supply chains. That traction also helped attract Aramco Ventures, whose investment marks its first in an Indian startup. Laguarta told TechCrunch that the Saudi energy giant's venture arm was drawn to Mitti Labs' focus on reducing methane emissions, improving water resilience, and applying AI to agriculture in emerging markets. The partnership, he said, could also help the startup tap into Aramco Ventures' relationships across carbon markets and potentially work with Aramco itself over time. "Obviously, Aramco is one of the largest companies in the world, and being able to have them as a partner and potential customer over time is a really interesting position for us to be in," Laguarta said. Using the fresh capital, Mitti Labs plans to launch operations in the Philippines later this year, before expanding into Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets in 2027. The move, per Laguarta, would allow Mitti Labs to serve compliance carbon markets alongside the voluntary market where it currently operates, while adapting its operating model to different farming systems and irrigation networks. "We're really a data company at the end of the day," Laguarta said. "When you do these expansions, you're generating and gathering data from very different ecosystems."