ImpactAlpha, December 12 — Gurugram-based Varaha has raised $4 million in a seed financing round backed by Omnivore, RTP Global, Better Capital and Orios Venture Partners.
The climate tech startup launched earlier this year with a goal to create $150 million in income each year for smallholder farmers through “fully-traceable, high integrity carbon offsets from nature-based solutions,” says Varaha’s Madhur Jain. He said the agroforestry and mangrove conservation projects would sequester at least 1 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2030.
By selling the offsets to buyers, Varaha can “augment the income of smallholder farmers and rural communities, and increase biodiversity.” Carbon offset projects are vetted through Vahara’s platform, which uses remote sensing, blockchain, machine learning and other tech-based tools.
