Aramco Ventures funds Mitti Labs to boost water-smart rice farming across Asia
Saudi Aramco’s venture arm has led a $9.5 million round in climate-tech startup Mitti Labs, enabling the company to expand its satellite-AI platform for water-efficient rice cultivation throughout Asia.
Mitti Labs, a climate-technology company based in New York and Bengaluru, secured a $9.5 million investment led by Aramco Ventures, the venture arm of Saudi Aramco, raising its total capital to $12.5 million. The startup’s GeoAI platform merges synthetic-aperture radar imagery from commercial and public satellites with extensive field measurements to generate digital replicas of rice paddies, allowing precise monitoring of soil moisture, flooding and methane output.
By advising smallholder farmers—average holdings about one hectare—to adopt alternative irrigation methods, the company reports water savings near 40 % and methane reductions exceeding 50 % without yield loss, while also generating carbon credits. Its client base now spans carbon marketplace Cool Effect, rice giant Ebro Foods and agriscience firm Syngenta. The funding round also included Lightspeed India, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco, Francis Family Fund and Volta Circle, marking Aramco Ventures’ first Indian investment. Mitti Labs aims to reach millions of farmers by 2030, expanding first to the Philippines later this year and then to Indonesia and broader Southeast Asia by 2027, leveraging the new capital to adapt its data-driven model to diverse irrigation systems.
Why it matters
The investment could help millions of Asian rice farmers use less water and cut greenhouse gases, addressing food security and climate change.
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