Oorja raises $1.5 million to scale its solar farming-as-a-service model

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Oorja has announced the successful close of its $1.5 million Pre-Series A funding round. The round attracted $1.2 million in equity finance from impact investors 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 join Oorja’s existing investor, Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia.

Oorja owns, operates and maintains decentralised solar infrastructure at the farm level and sells solar-powered irrigation, milling and cooling services to smallholder farmers on a pay-per-use basis. Users pay according to the amount of irrigation water pumped, produce milled or stored at affordable tariffs.

Oorja’s farming-as-a-service model has been transformative for smallholder farmers, enabling access to year-round irrigation, increasing crop yields and boosting income.

Oorja stated it would use the latest funding to deploy agri-energy infrastructure for irrigation and milling and deepening operations in existing and new states. It will also 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 Swiss Re Foundation, will be used to deliver climate-smart farmer advisory services to help farmers diversify to high-value crops, reduce dependence on chemical inputs and increase crop yields.

Oorja aims to deploy 10,000 agri-solar projects by the end of the decade, reaching one 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 fertilisers. In addition to the significant climate benefits, the widespread adoption of solar-powered irrigation will help farmers strengthen their livelihoods and improve food security.

 

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