Rize Raises $31M to Scale Low-Emission Rice Farming in Asia

Rice is essential to global food security, but the way it is traditionally cultivated creates a significant climate and water challenge.

Singapore-based Rize has raised $31 million in Series B funding to expand its sustainable rice platform across Southeast Asia. The round combines equity and debt financing and takes its reported total funding to approximately $47 million.

The equity portion was led by BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts, with participation from Temasek, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Debt was provided by United Overseas Bank, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, and Temasek Foundation.

Combining farmer finance with climate-smart agriculture

Founded by Dhruv Sawhney, Rize works with smallholder rice farmers in Vietnam and Indonesia.

Its platform provides seeds, fertilizer, equipment, and operational support while helping farmers adopt practices such as alternate wetting and drying. Instead of keeping fields continuously flooded, the method allows them to dry for controlled periods, reducing water use and methane emissions.

Rize also uses measuring, reporting, and verification technology to monitor farming practices and environmental outcomes. Its business model connects farmer financing with agronomy, supply chains, carbon measurement, and access to buyers.

The company currently works with approximately 17,000 farmers and plans to use the new capital to deepen its presence in Vietnam and Indonesia while considering another market, with India among the locations being evaluated.

Building a wider agricultural platform

Rize plans to open parts of its platform to third-party providers and agricultural service companies.

That expansion could allow external businesses to provide financing, equipment, inputs, or specialist services through the same network. The company also plans to support exports and give field teams access to more modern farming tools.

The strategic advantage is integration. Smallholder farmers often face several connected problems: limited working capital, inconsistent access to inputs, low bargaining power, and difficulty adopting new cultivation techniques.

Addressing only one part of that system may not be enough. Rize is attempting to coordinate the financial, operational, and environmental layers within one platform.

Why this funding matters

Agricultural climate technology often struggles to move from pilot projects to large-scale adoption.

Farmers may recognize the benefits of lower water use or reduced emissions, but changing cultivation methods can introduce financial and production risks. Rize reduces that barrier by combining technical support with access to inputs and capital.

The company says its farming approach can reduce methane emissions by up to 50%, cut water use by around 20% and increase farmer income by as much as 30%. These are company and program targets rather than independently verified outcomes across every farm.

The larger signal is that climate-smart agriculture is moving beyond monitoring software. Investors are backing operating platforms that directly influence how crops are financed, cultivated, measured, and sold.

Rize’s next test will be whether it can maintain farmer economics and verified climate outcomes as it expands across more regions and opens its infrastructure to external partners.

Source : Economic Times