Is the climate crisis solvable? Even though the odds might not be in our favour, the management team at cleantech startup, Varaha, is in combat mode to reverse climate change. It reckons that globally, over 500 million smallholder farmers are affected by climate change. Currently, there is no financial incentive for smallholder farmers to adopt agricultural practices that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve carbon sequestration.
Varaha is incentivising smallholder farmers to follow regenerative agriculture practices by creating high-quality carbon credits that augment their income while also reducing their operating costs. In other words, this cleantech startup is fueling nature-based climate innovations to bend the arc of emissions towards net zero.
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Recently, Varaha raised $4 million in seed funding, led by Orios Venture Partners, alongside participation from Omnivore, RTP Global, Better Capital, and other angel investors, including Kunal Shah. But first, what’s up with the name? ‘Varaha’ is an avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu who saved the Earth by lifting it out of the cosmic ocean and restored it back to its place in the universe.
Based out of Gurugram and Bengaluru, Varaha was founded in 2022 by Madhur Jain, Ankita Garg, and Vishal Kuchanur. It is currently working across six Indian states and has signed MoUs with several institutions. More specifically, this tech-enabled carbon credits startup is modernising carbon markets with diverse climate action projects.
“Varaha’s tech platform creates fully-traceable, high integrity, carbon offsets from nature-based solutions. The sale of such offsets will catalyse climate positive activities, augment the income of smallholder farmers and rural communities, and increase biodiversity,” said Jain, the company co-founder & CEO. With the undeniable impact of climate change, purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions will soon become a necessity for all commercial entities. Varaha addresses this large market of identifying, authenticating, and making the credits available for purchase in domestic or global markets by working with India’s farmers.
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The story so far
* A tech-enabled carbon credits startup
* Creates carbon offsets from nature-based solutions
* Incentivises farmers to follow regenerative agriculture practices