Mitti Labs, a climate-tech startup based in New York and Bengaluru, has raised $9.5 million in a Series A round led by Aramco Ventures, Saudi Aramco's venture investment arm, to expand its water- and methane-reduction platform for rice farming across Asia. The investment matters because rice is a staple for more than half the world's population yet is one of the most water-intensive crops to grow, with continuously flooded paddies also generating a significant share of agricultural methane emissions, making Mitti Labs' approach relevant to both food security and climate goals.

Other participants in the round included existing investor Lightspeed India alongside Godrej Industries Group, Cisco, Francis Family Fund and Volta Circle, taking Mitti Labs' total funding to $12.5 million since its $3 million seed round in July 2024. The startup's GeoAI platform combines satellite radar imagery with years of field data to create "digital twins" of individual rice fields, helping farmers adopt alternate irrigation practices that it says cut water use by around 40% and methane emissions by more than 50% without harming yields, while also generating carbon credit income. Mitti Labs has grown from roughly 8,000 farmers in its first season in 2024 to over 100,000 across Indian states today, employs more than 150 people, and counts Cool Effect, Ebro Foods and Syngenta among its customers; the Aramco Ventures deal is the Saudi firm's first investment in an Indian startup.