CarbonFarm, which provides digital monitoring, reporting and verification services focused on decarbonising rice production, has closed a €7 million Series A funding round led by Colam Impact. The oversubscribed round also drew backing from Proparco, Suma Capital, elea, Working Capital Fund, Albo and Bpifrance, alongside returning investors Serena, makesense through Racine², and Techmind.

The company combines AI-powered satellite imagery analysis, on-the-ground data collection and greenhouse gas modelling to help rice producers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, NGOs and governments measure and reduce emissions while improving water management and unlocking access to climate finance.

Rice farming generates roughly 12 per cent of global human-caused methane emissions and consumes as much as 28 per cent of the world's freshwater. Better water management practices can slash emissions by up to 50 per cent and cut water consumption by 30 per cent without harming crop yields. Yet scaling these changes across the sector remains difficult: smallholders dominate rice cultivation, meaning change requires coordination among thousands of farms and dependable ways to track environmental outcomes.

CarbonFarm's platform generates the field-level emissions data needed for carbon credit certification and supply chain reporting. Beyond technology, the company also handles project development, financing, certification and connections to carbon credit purchasers.

Vassily Carantino, co-founder and CEO, outlined the company's philosophy on achieving scale:

Scale will not come from replacing local value-chain players; it will come from equipping them. They understand the farming systems and have the relationships needed to make change happen. Our role is to help turn this local knowledge into programmes that can attract finance and stand up to scrutiny.

Vassily Carantino, co-founder and CEO of CarbonFarm

As carbon accounting standards tighten, the reliability of emissions measurement is becoming increasingly critical. James Hastwell, co-founder and CTO, underscored this point:

Projects that can show clearly how their results were scientifically measured build greater confidence and can attract buyers willing to pay a premium for high-quality credits.

James Hastwell, co-founder and CTO of CarbonFarm

Since its previous funding round, CarbonFarm has extended operations to 19 countries, partnering with organisations in food and agriculture, carbon finance, international development and technology sectors.

The fresh capital will go towards strengthening the company's footprint across Asia, Africa and Europe while pushing into Latin America. CarbonFarm will also invest in advancing its technology and project development services, enabling partners to implement, finance and measure rice decarbonisation initiatives on a larger scale.

Source: Tech.eu