Aramco Ventures Leads $9.5M Series A in Mitti Labs

Mitti Labs co-founders: Nathan Torbick, Xavier Laguarta Soler, and Devdut Dalal

Aramco Ventures, the investment arm of Saudi Aramco, has led a $9.5 million Series A funding round for Mitti Labs, a climate-smart agriculture technology company using artificial intelligence, satellite data, and field-level operations to reduce the environmental impact of rice farming.

The round also included Lightspeed India, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle, bringing Mitti Labs' total funding raised to $12.5 million.

The investment gives Mitti Labs additional capital to expand beyond its established operations in India and build a larger presence across Southeast Asia, where rice production faces significant water and methane challenges.

Mitti Labs was founded in 2023 and has developed technology specifically around rice cultivation, combining digital monitoring, agronomy, and carbon-market infrastructure. Its platform is designed to make climate-smart farming practices measurable and scalable across large agricultural areas.

How Does Mitti Labs Use AI and Satellite Data to Improve Rice Farming?

Mitti Labs combines satellite imagery, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), artificial intelligence, field data, and agronomic support through a digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (dMRV) platform.

The technology creates field-level digital models that can help monitor:

• Crop growth and farming practices
• Soil and water conditions
• Irrigation and water consumption
• Greenhouse-gas emissions
• Adoption of climate-smart farming techniques
• Data required to generate and verify carbon credits

The approach is important because rice farming traditionally relies on flooded fields, creating low-oxygen conditions that contribute to methane formation. Mitti Labs promotes Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), an irrigation method that periodically allows rice fields to dry rather than maintaining continuous flooding.

According to Mitti Labs, AWD can reduce water consumption by up to 40% and methane emissions by up to 50% without compromising yields. Independent field results cited by Cisco have also shown water-use reductions of 37% in Warangal, Telangana, while maintaining yields.

What Environmental Impact Can Climate-Smart Rice Farming Deliver?

Metric	Reported impact
Water consumption	Up to 40% reduction
Methane emissions	Up to 50% reduction
Farmer income	Up to 20% boost through carbon-credit revenue share
Farmers onboarded	40,000+ reported in recent company materials
Monitoring footprint	Up to 10 million hectares reported in 2025
Rice methane credits	First issuance reported in April 2026

Mitti Labs says carbon-credit revenue can provide farmers with an additional income stream. The company's platform is designed to measure changes in farming practices and emissions, allowing those reductions to support carbon-credit generation.

How Fast Is Mitti Labs Scaling Its Farmer Network?

Mitti Labs has moved from early field trials to large-scale agricultural programs since launching in 2023.

The company previously reported onboarding 40,000 farmers across six Indian states, while more recent external reporting has put its farmer network at 70,000+. The company is now targeting more than 100,000 farmers as it expands its operating footprint.

Its broader ambition is significantly larger: Mitti Labs is targeting millions of farmers by 2030, positioning its technology as infrastructure for scaling climate-smart rice production rather than simply as a farm-management tool.

The opportunity is particularly large across Asia. Mitti Labs estimates that 90% of the world's rice is grown in Asia, with around half produced on farms smaller than 2 hectares, highlighting the scale and fragmentation of the market its technology must address.

Which Southeast Asian Markets Will Mitti Labs Enter Next?

The new funding will support Mitti Labs' expansion beyond India, beginning with the Philippines in 2026, followed by Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets.

The company has already begun building its regional expansion team, including dedicated country-lead roles for Indonesia and the Philippines, signaling that Southeast Asia is becoming a core part of its growth strategy.

The expansion strategy will focus on three connected opportunities:

1. Climate-smart agriculture: Helping rice farmers adopt practices that reduce water use and methane emissions.
2. Digital measurement and verification: Using satellite and AI technology to measure farming practices and environmental outcomes at scale.
3. Carbon markets: Turning verified methane reductions into carbon credits that can create an additional revenue stream for participating farmers.

Southeast Asia is a logical next market because countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines have substantial rice-growing sectors and face similar challenges around water efficiency, agricultural productivity, and climate resilience.

How Could Aramco Ventures Help Mitti Labs Scale?

Aramco Ventures' investment provides Mitti Labs with more than financial capital. As the venture arm of Saudi Aramco, it can potentially provide access to a global network spanning energy, technology, industrial innovation, and carbon markets.

For Mitti Labs, that strategic connection could support the development of carbon-market partnerships and future sustainability initiatives as the company expands its rice-focused platform across Asia.

The investment also illustrates how major energy-sector investors are broadening their exposure to climate technologies. Rather than focusing exclusively on renewable energy generation, the climate-tech opportunity increasingly includes technologies that can measure emissions, reduce resource consumption, and create financial incentives for lower-carbon practices.

Mitti Labs fits this model by combining AI and geospatial technology with an emissions-reduction application in a major global food system.

Why Does Rice Farming Matter for Climate Technology Investors?

Rice is both a critical food crop and a significant source of agricultural methane emissions.

Mitti Labs and other organizations working in the sector estimate that rice cultivation accounts for roughly 12% of global methane emissions, while rice production also uses approximately 30% of the world's freshwater supply.

That combination creates a substantial climate-technology opportunity: reducing methane while simultaneously lowering water consumption and improving the economics of farming.

The emergence of carbon markets adds another layer to the model. In April 2026, Mitti Labs reported its first issuance of methane-reduction credits, while its projects have also attracted carbon-credit buyers such as Cool Effect.

The result is a business model that connects farm-level behavior, satellite monitoring, emissions measurement, carbon finance, and farmer income.

What Does the Mitti Labs Funding Round Mean for Climate-Smart Agriculture?

The $9.5 million Series A led by Aramco Ventures marks a significant step in Mitti Labs' attempt to turn climate-smart rice farming into a scalable technology and carbon-market opportunity.

Its next challenge will be execution: expanding from India into markets such as the Philippines and Indonesia, onboarding potentially millions of smallholder farmers, maintaining reliable emissions measurement, and demonstrating that carbon-credit revenues can create meaningful economic benefits for farmers.

If Mitti Labs can scale that model while maintaining credible measurement and verification, its platform could become an important piece of infrastructure for reducing the environmental footprint of rice production across Asia.

For investors, the deal also points to a broader climate-tech trend: AI, satellite intelligence, and carbon markets are increasingly converging around physical industries where resource efficiency can produce both environmental and economic returns.

 

 

 

FAQs

1. What is Mitti Labs?
Mitti Labs is a climate-smart agriculture technology company founded in 2023 that combines AI, satellite data, field operations, and digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification technology to reduce methane emissions and water consumption from rice farming.

2. How much funding did Mitti Labs raise?
Mitti Labs raised $9.5 million in a Series A round led by Aramco Ventures, bringing its total funding raised to $12.5 million.

3. How much can Mitti Labs reduce water use and methane emissions?
Mitti Labs says its climate-smart rice farming programs can reduce water consumption by up to 40% and methane emissions by up to 50% while maintaining crop yields.

4. Which countries will Mitti Labs expand into?
Mitti Labs plans to launch operations in the Philippines in 2026, followed by expansion into Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets.

5. How does Mitti Labs use carbon credits?
Mitti Labs measures the environmental impact of climate-smart rice farming through its digital monitoring and verification technology. Verified methane reductions can support the generation of carbon credits, creating an additional potential revenue stream for farmers.