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.
