Singapore-based Rize has raised $31 million in Series B funding from a mix of climate-focused and development finance investors, bringing its total funding to $47 million. The company’s goal is to cut emissions and water use in rice farming while simultaneously maintaining yields and boosting farmer incomes.
Rice paddies represent some 10–12% of global methane emissions, largely due to conventional cultivation techniques that flood systems and produce methanogenic bacteria populations in the process.
Among the alternative practices available, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is especially promising. The water management technique, which involves periodically draining and re-flooding fields, is known to reduce methane emissions from rice farming by 30–70% without impacting yield. The practice also cuts water usage, an increasingly relevant concern for Southeast Asia in this day and age.
But switching to such practices requires upfront capital, specific knowledge, and comfort with a certain level of risk around crop yields. As noted by Slav Gatchev, VP of innovative finance at The Rockefeller Foundation, “Small shareholder farmers across Asia face challenges with resource management, access to financing, and unreliable market access – leading to lower agricultural yields and reduced farmer welfare.”
To address this, Rize works directly with rice farmers transition to practices like AWD, deploying a 50-person agronomist team along with a proprietary mobile app collects field data to inform recommendations and feed measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems.
The company says its emissions reductions are independently verified. For example, its Sustainable Rice Production in South East and South Asia project has a strong rating from credit rating agency BeZero Carbon.
Rize also works to ensure its rice meets maximum residue limit (MRL) standards required by premium export markets.
Expanding scale, market reach
As of now, the company works with 17,000 smallholder farmers across 50,000 hectares in Vietnam and Indonesia, and says it has helped ship 1,500 tons of “low-emission rice” to Europe, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. The goal is to expand its farming network to 150,000 farmers across 300,000 hectares by the end of the decade.
The Series B round includes a $20 million equity deal, led by BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts with The Rockefeller Foundation, Temasek, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and an $11 million debt from UOB, BIDV, and Temasek foundation.
“This investment allows us to unlock the next phase of growth by further expanding scale, investing in market linkage and exports, and cutting edge technologies to deliver better decision making, better productivity, and better outcomes across the whole value-chain,” noted Rize CEO and cofounder Dhruv Sawhney.
The new capital will help Rize scale up AWD and MRL compliance among farmers in Indonesia and Vietnam, markets the company currently serves. Plans for additional markets are in the works, and Rize will also open its platform to others in the agrifood chain such as input retailers and other service providers.
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