Voluntary carbon credits were a big thing back in the 2010s when major corporations, including Google, Apple, BP, and Amazon, looked to offset emissions they could not directly eliminate. However, with accusations of greenwashing and carbon credit suppliers under scrutiny over a causal effect on emissions, Big Tech was forced to look elsewhere.
Microsoft and Google turned to India and found the answer in Varaha, which helps turn everyday farming practices into carbon credits that companies can buy.
Microsoft recently signed a carbon dioxide removal offtake agreement with Varaha for more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon removal over three years through a biochar project in India, turning organic waste into charcoal-like carbon-rich substance. The deal came within days of the startup also securing a similar carbon credit purchase agreement with Google.
Like Google, Microsoft has committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030. Its strategy involves cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than half and neutralising the remainder through carbon removal, even as data centres processing AI workloads create another emissions faultline.
Turning to India
To secure a long-term supply, Microsoft has signed large multi-year deals with US carbon credits suppliers like Indigo Carbon and AtmosClear. However, India too offers a steady market. Between 2010 and 2022, India issued 278 million carbon credits traded in VCMs, accounting for 17% of the global supply, according to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water.
As part of the India project, Varaha will develop 18 industrial biomass gasification reactors with an operational life of 15 years. The project is expected to remove more than 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
The reactors will use cotton stalks sourced from smallholder farms in Maharashtra as feedstock. These residues are typically burned in open fields after harvest. Varaha will instead convert the biomass into biochar, sequestering biogenic carbon for long-term storage and improve soil health and water retention. The company has onboarded around 40,000 farmers across Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra for the project, and seven of its reactors are currently in operation.
Varaha founder Madhur Jain tells AIM that farmer participation is driven by a clear incentive structure. Farmers receive a share of the carbon credit revenue, are paid directly for crop residue that would otherwise be burnt, and are given biochar free of cost to improve soil fertility.
Over time, this also lowers cultivation costs and boosts yields. “The value proposition is so strong that it becomes a no-brainer,” Jain adds.
From Agriculture Roots to Climate Solutions
Founded in mid-2022, Varaha has emerged as one of Asia’s leading carbon credit suppliers, working with over 100,000 farmers across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.
“We focus on sustainable agriculture,” Jain says. “And to do this, we work across soil carbon, forestry, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering.”
Varaha’s origins are closely tied to its founders’ professional journeys. Jain, an agricultural engineer by training, has spent his entire career working in smallholder agriculture.
“This was a natural transition,” he notes, adding that most of the company’s co-founders and founding team have spent their careers in agriculture. “Over 10–12 years, we realised this was a problem worth solving—for the environment and for farmer livelihoods.”
Jain serves as CEO, Ankita Garg as COO, and Vishal Kuchanur as CTO of the company.
Tech Stack Built for Farms
Jain says Varaha’s platform is built around three core components.
It begins with ground-level data collection on farmer boundaries, crops and practices. This data is then validated using remote sensing and machine learning models trained on high-quality field data, before being used to quantify emissions reductions and carbon sequestration.
The models adapt across seasons and crops such as rice, wheat and maize, improving precision across different agro-climatic conditions.
Varaha also deploys digital measurement, reporting, and verification systems for projects such as rock weathering and biochar, built to operate within the complex logistics of smallholder farming.
The company combines satellite imagery, AI and extensive on-ground data collection, conducting thousands of soil tests to measure soil organic carbon. These inputs help train models across seasons, crop systems, and climatic zones.
Profitable Climate Business
Unlike many climate startups still searching for sustainable revenue models, Varaha is already profitable. “Our last financial year was over ₹40 crore ($4.5 million) in revenue, and we were profitable,” Jain says.
To date, Varaha has raised around $50 million across a mix of funding instruments. Its backers include RTP Global, Omnivore, Orios Venture Partners, IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group’s Octave Well-being Economy Fund, and Japan’s Norinchukin Bank.
In November, Mirova, a French climate-focused investment firm backed by Kering and other corporate investors, invested $30.5 million to support Varaha’s expansion of regenerative farming programmes.
Varaha now operates across nine Indian states, with teams in Gurugram and Bengaluru, and employees spread across Australia, Europe, and the US.
The post Big Tech is Running Out of Carbon Credits. Enter Indian Startup Varaha appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
