Melissa Bradshaw

Rize, an agri-tech start-up based in Singapore, has raised $31 million in Series B funding to scale its AI-led sustainable rice farming technology across Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2023, the company’s mission is to reduce the environmental impact of rice farming through its technology platform. The platform provides farmers with data-driven guidance to support sustainable practices like alternate wetting and drying (AWD), maximum residue limits (MRL) and site-specific nutrient management.

Rice is a staple crop across Southeast Asia, but its cultivation is water-intensive and emissions-heavy, producing around 12% of global methane emissions and up to 33% of Southeast Asia’s methane emissions. Rize said it aims to address these challenges by transforming how smallholder farmers grow rice.

The funding round will support Rize in deepening field-to-buyer traceability, scaling AWD adoption and MRL compliance and advancing carbon certification. It will also enable the company to reach new ecosystem partners, with ambitions to reach 300,000 hectares and 150,000 farmers by 2030.

BNP Paribas Asset Management led the Series B round with $20 million in equity, joined by The Rockerfeller Foundation, alongside renewed participation from Temasek and Breakthrough Energy. A further $11 million in debt financing has been secured with support from UOB, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, and Temasek Foundation.

In the two years since Rize’s Series A funding round, the company has reached 17,000 smallholder farmers across more than 50,000 hectares in Vietnam and Indonesia. It has seen the shipping of 1,500 metric tons of low-emission rice to Europe, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

Dhruv Sawhney, co-founder and CEO of Rize, said the funding is a “recognition of the foundation Rize has built and a clear signal that we are ready to create a more connected, resilient and sustainable food system for smallholder farmers”.

Published Date: July 22, 2026