Oorja Raises $1.5M Pre-Series A For Farming-As-A-Service Model

Oorja Raises $1.5M Pre-Series A For Farming-As-A-Service Model

Oorja, a solar irrigation services and agricultural advisory to smallholder farmers in India, successfully closed its US$1.5 million Pre-Series A funding round. The company in the recent round attracted $1.2 million in equity finance from impact investors like Acumen, elea, a family trust advised by Artha Impact, Echoing Green Signal Fund, Partners Group via its employee-run impact investment association PG Impact, and 1to4 Foundation, as well as $300,000 in non-dilutive funding from the Swiss Re Foundation. These funders joined Oorja’s existing investor, Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia.

Oorja owns, operates, and maintains decentralised solar infrastructure at the farm level and sells affordable irrigation and milling services to groups of smallholder farmers. Since 2018, the company has pioneered an inclusive Pay-Per-Use model to mainstream access to solar technology for agricultural use. Users pay for irrigation water and produce processed at affordable volumetric tariffs. Its farming-as-a-service model has been helpful for smallholder farmers, enabling access to year-round irrigation, increasing crop yields, and boosting income.

Oorja’s latest funding will be used to deploy agri-energy infrastructure for irrigation, milling, and deepening operations in existing and new states. Oorja also plans to launch a B2B2C vertical to deliver solar irrigation solutions to agribusinesses and SMEs who engage with smallholder farmers for procurement. The grant portion of the capital raise, supported by the Swiss Re Foundation, is to deliver climate-smart farmer advisory services to help farmers diversify to high-value crops, reduce dependence on chemical inputs, and increase crop yields.

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By the end of the decade, Oorja’s objective is to deploy 10,000 agri-solar projects, reaching 1 million people across the Global South. These projects would avoid around 500,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions over their lifetimes by displacing fossil fuel and fossil-derived fertilizers. In addition to the significant climate benefits, the widespread adoption of solar-powered irrigation will help farmers strengthen their livelihoods and improve food security.

“We are delighted to welcome on board reputed impact investors and funders who are aligned with our mission to decarbonise agriculture while putting the needs of smallholders first. Their support comes at a crucial time as we get ready to scale up from the regional to the national level, putting us on a path to profitability,” said Amit Saraogi and Clementine Chambon, Oorja’s co-founders. “Besides funding, we also look forward to our funders’ valuable contributions on strategic decision-making and access to their network of partners in the agri-energy domain.”

Paraag Sabhlok, Associate Director, India Portfolio, Acumen, said: “Climate change-induced irregular rainfall and declining water levels threaten crop productivity and farmer resilience. This is worsened by the unaffordability of available technologies to smallholder farmers. We are optimistic about Oorja’s pioneering Pay-Per-Use approach to make solar technologies accessible and affordable for such farmers.”

Elodie de Warlincourt, Senior Portfolio Manager at the Swiss Re Foundation, said, “Oorja’s double focus on climate adaptation and mitigation is strongly aligned to Swiss Re Foundation’s objectives. We were attracted by the fact that Oorja makes solar power accessible and affordable to low-income marginalised farmers. It also does so in a way that ensures solar assets are operated and maintained for their full lifetime.”

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