Varaha, an India-based carbon removal company working across Asia and Africa, just closed $20 million in Series B funding led by WestBridge Capital, marking the venture firm's first climate tech investment. The funding represents the initial tranche of a planned $45 million Series B round, positioning the company to dramatically expand its carbon removal operations across some of the world's most challenging agricultural markets. The timing couldn't be better: Varaha's model of working with smallholder farmers in developing economies is proving that high-quality carbon removal doesn't have to come with developed-world price tags, and major corporate buyers are taking notice. The company plans to use the capital to push into new markets including Vietnam and Indonesia while deepening its presence in existing geographies, and to continue rolling out its Industrial Partners Program, a biochar-focused model that allows industrial operators to generate verified carbon removal credits using Varaha's measurement and verification systems.
The investment comes on the heels of a major agreement with Microsoft signed in January 2026, committing to over 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide removal over three years through biochar projects in India. The Microsoft deal is significant not just for its size but for what it represents: a major tech company betting on carbon removal projects in the Global South at scale. The project involves developing 18 industrial gasification reactors that will source cotton stalks from smallholder farms in Maharashtra, with a total projected removal volume exceeding 2 million tonnes of CO2 over the project's lifetime. Biochar, the stable form of carbon produced when organic waste is heated in a low-oxygen environment, has emerged as one of the most promising carbon removal pathways because it's verifiable, permanent, and creates co-benefits for farmers who can use it as a soil amendment. Varaha's model connects farmers who have agricultural waste they can't use with industrial operators who have the infrastructure to convert that waste into biochar, creating a supply chain that generates carbon credits while solving a waste management problem for farming communities.
To date, Varaha has removed more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 across 14 active projects, generating approximately 150,000 carbon removal credits that meet international verification standards. The company operates across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Ivory Coast, working with approximately 170,000 to 175,000 farmers across roughly 1.7 million acres: a scale that few carbon removal companies operating in developing markets have achieved. Varaha's funding sources now total approximately $33 million in equity, $35 million in project financing, and $500,000 in grants, giving the company the financial runway to continue scaling while maintaining its focus on execution over hype. The company's approach isn't built on proprietary technology or breakthrough science: it's built on the unglamorous work of creating reliable supply chains, building relationships with farming communities, and establishing measurement and verification protocols that satisfy corporate buyers who need to demonstrate real climate impact to stakeholders.
What sets Varaha apart in an increasingly crowded carbon removal market is its ability to deliver credits at prices 1.5x to 3x lower than competitors in wealthier markets while maintaining identical international verification standards. That price advantage isn't about cutting corners: it's about operational efficiency and lower costs in the regions where Varaha operates. The company has long-term offtake agreements with corporate buyers including Google, Microsoft, Lufthansa, Swiss Re, and Capgemini, demonstrating that major companies are willing to source carbon removal from developing economies when quality and verification are assured. As voluntary carbon markets face increased scrutiny over credit quality and permanence, Varaha's focus on durable carbon removal through biochar, backed by rigorous monitoring, positions the company well for a market that's getting pickier about what counts as real climate action. The WestBridge investment signals that climate tech in the Global South is moving from a niche experiment to a mainstream investment opportunity, and companies that can execute at scale in challenging markets are attracting serious capital.
