This Indian Startup Is Making Carbon Removal 3x Cheaper Than Western Competitors

What if you could remove carbon from the atmosphere at one-third the cost of your Western competitors while meeting the same verification standards? Indian climate tech startup Varaha just raised $20 million to prove this isn't just possible—it's profitable.

The Global South's Carbon Removal Advantage

Varaha announced the first tranche of a planned $45 million Series B round led by WestBridge Capital, marking the venture firm's first climate tech investment. The funding comes as corporate demand for verified carbon removals surges, driven partly by companies facing growing energy use from data centers and AI workloads.

Founded in 2022, the startup has now raised about $33 million in equity alongside $35 million in project financing. But the real story isn't just the money—it's the geography. Varaha operates across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Ivory Coast, working with 170,000 to 175,000 farmers across roughly 1.7 million acres.

The company's advantage lies not in proprietary technology but in execution, says co-founder and CEO Madhur Jain. "If carbon credit is a cost to the businesses that are buying these carbon credits... it's a cost on their balance sheet. It's not a CSR item," Jain told TechCrunch. "And hence, if the cost of a certain geography is going to be so high by an order of magnitude of like, 1.5x to 3x credit production, it is going to be extremely hard for those companies to survive."

Four Pathways to Scale

Varaha develops carbon removal projects across four main pathways: regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering. The startup generates and sells verified carbon removal credits through international registries including Puro.earth, Isometric, Verra, and Gold Standard.

To date, the company has removed more than 2 million tons of carbon dioxide across 14 active projects, generating around 150,000 carbon removal credits. Jain claims Varaha was the first in India to issue carbon credits from biochar projects and the first in Asia to issue credits from enhanced rock weathering through an international registry.

The numbers tell a compelling growth story. Varaha reported revenue of ₹430 million (about $4.76 million) last financial year and expects revenue to nearly quintuple to ₹2 billion (around $22.15 million) this year while remaining profitable after tax. The startup has signed long-term offtake agreements with global buyers including Google, Microsoft, Lufthansa, Swiss Re, and Capgemini.

Scaling Through Partnerships, Not Ownership

The latest funding will fuel expansion into Vietnam and Indonesia while deepening presence in existing markets. But perhaps more interesting is Varaha's Industrial Partners Program, which allows industrial operators with sustainable biomass and gasification capacity to generate verified biochar-based carbon removal credits using the startup's measurement, reporting, and verification systems.

This partnership model, already operational with agribusinesses and a steel producer in West Africa and India, reflects a broader strategic insight. "The problem is so big that tech, etc., will become open source over a period of time," Jain said. "So what matters the most is the execution."

Varaha employs about 225 to 230 people, with more than 80% based in India. While the startup doesn't maintain overseas offices, it has staff in Nepal, Germany, the U.S., and Australia, reflecting its growing international customer base.

The New Geography of Climate Solutions

WestBridge Capital's investment signals broader investor confidence in emerging markets as climate solution providers. "We believe Varaha is uniquely positioned to build a global carbon-removal platform from India, combining integrity, scale, and impact," said Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing partner at WestBridge Capital.

India's emergence as a carbon removal hub isn't accidental. The country offers lower operating costs, deep agricultural supply chains, and a large pool of technical talent—advantages that become more pronounced as carbon credit prices face downward pressure.