Saudi Aramco’s venture arm has made its first investment in an Indian startup. It is backing climate tech company Mitti Labs as it scales AI-powered solutions for more water-resilient rice farming across Asia.

Mitti Labs has raised USD 9.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Aramco Ventures, marking the Saudi firm’s first investment in an Indian startup. The round also saw participation from Lightspeed India, alongside Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle. The latest round brings Mitti Labs’ total funding to USD 12.5 million since its launch.

Why You Should Care

Rice is the world’s most water-intensive crop, consuming more than 30% of global irrigation water while flooded rice fields are also a major source of methane emissions. As rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns place greater pressure on food production, technologies that help farmers grow rice using less water are attracting investment from both climate-focused and key investors.

The Details

Founded in 2023 by Devdut Dalal, Xavier Laguarta Soler, and Nathan Torbick, Mitti Labs is a climate tech startup. It developed a GeoAI platform that combines high-resolution synthetic aperture radar satellite imagery with proprietary field data and physical models. This is to create digital twins of individual rice fields. Developed with support from NASA, the platform allows farmers, businesses, and project partners to monitor crop health, soil moisture, flooding, and irrigation practices at the level of a single farm.

“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,”

Xavi Laguarta, Mitti Labs co-founder

Looking ahead, with the funding, it aims to deepen expansion across India. It also seeks to establish new greenfield projects in the Philippines and Indonesia.

The company’s platform helps farmers adopt Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD). This is an irrigation method that periodically allows rice fields to dry before they are re-flooded. According to Mitti Labs, the practice reduces water consumption by nearly 40% and methane emissions by more than 50% while maintaining crop yields. Moreover, farmers participating in its programs can also generate carbon credits that provide an additional source of income.

The Ripple 

The investment reflects growing Gulf interest in climate technologies that address water security and agricultural resilience, while also marking Aramco Ventures’ first investment in India.

For Asia, where rice covers roughly one-fifth of cultivated land and supports millions of smallholder farmers, technologies that improve irrigation efficiency could play a growing role in strengthening food security while supporting carbon reduction efforts. The funding also positions Mitti Labs to expand its data-driven agricultural platform beyond India into additional rice-producing markets.

What to Watch

Mitti Labs plans to use the new funding to deepen its presence across India while launching new operations in the Philippines before expanding into Indonesia. As the company enters more rice-producing markets, its AI platform and field operations will collect data from a wider range of farming systems, supporting both voluntary and compliance carbon markets while scaling climate-focused agriculture across Asia.