Four Indian Ventures Join Google DeepMind’s AI for the Planet Cohort
Terrastack, Varaha Climate, Farmers for Forests and Climitra Carbon join the APAC programme, announced on 7 September.
Manik Gupta
Founder and editor of DeepTech India. Manik writes about India's frontier technology ecosystem — AI, semiconductors, space, quantum, robotics and biotech — translating research and policy into clear, reliable reporting.
Google has selected four Indian organisations—Terrastack, Varaha Climate, Farmers for Forests and Climitra Carbon—for its inaugural Google DeepMind Accelerator: AI for the Planet in Asia-Pacific.
The official September 7 announcement names 16 participants across the region. They will receive three months of technical support, mentoring and access to Google’s AI tools. Selection is not an independent validation of their environmental claims.
The Indian projects
Terrastack combines satellite and agronomic data for plot-level information. Varaha uses remote sensing and AI in verification of regenerative agriculture and carbon removal. Farmers for Forests applies AI-powered drones to measuring agroforestry-related carbon and biodiversity outcomes. Climitra’s programme description focuses on geospatial AI for verifying invasive-species removal and conversion into biochar.
The last distinction corrects the broader bio-coal framing in earlier coverage: Google’s cohort description identifies the specific project being supported.
Measurement is part of the product
Farmers for Forests’ own account describes work with farmers on restoring forest cover and agroforestry. For projects of this kind, the physical intervention and the evidence of its effect are separate parts of the task.
A model may identify changes in imagery, but a carbon or biodiversity claim also depends on measurement design, ground observations and the assumptions used to interpret change. Access to better models does not remove that work.
The accelerator’s useful outputs will therefore be project-specific: better measurements, clearly described validation and tools that remain reliable outside their development datasets. The programme offers support for that process; the results will need to be assessed as the organisations report them.
Image: Tree-canopy imagery with marked regions, published by Farmers for Forests, one of the selected Indian organisations.
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