India’s very first Cold Chain digital marketplace, Celcius, formed during the most challenging environment of the COVID pandemic, is today scaling an enviable growth trajectory. In just two years of its inception, the company recorded an ARR of INR 50 CR and recently closed USD 7.5 MN in funding rounds. Speaking on the rapid progress made, Swarup Bose – Founder & CEO of Celcius, said “Celcius’s HYBRID SaaS-based cold chain marketplace solution connecting Shippers, Transporters, and Cold Storage owners across the country comes as a boon to the entire sector. We are attempting to bridge the systemic gaps and create a tech ecosystem that will be unparalleled. In just two years, we have grown 20 times and expanded our operations from 5 to 350 cities. As tons of food and vaccines get wasted every year, Celcius is set out on a mission to create a precise Unbroken Cold Chain, a crying need of the country today.”
The conventional cold chain system in India is riddled with issues. The yawning systemic gaps became more pronounced and came to the forefront during the unprecedented nationwide lockdown in March 2020. The unavailability of staff and coordination errors between the shippers and transporters created chaos in transporting essential commodities across the country. Considering the sustained demand for contactless deliveries and anticipating the need for a robust and seamless cold chain to aid the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, Swarup, who was already in the cold chain business and his team came together to create a paradigm shift with Celcius. Since then the company has had phenomenal growth achieving the following milestones:
- Onboarded 3500 vehicles, 107 cold storages, and had grown 20 X just in one year.
- Geographically it has expanded from five city operations to 350 cities today.
- Transported over 20000 tonnes of perishable cargo for sectors like dairy, fresh agricultural produce, pharma, fruits, seafood, and vaccines across 350 cities in India
- Ventured across the border to import fruits from Afghanistan and to export seafood outside India, connecting Nepal and Bhutan
- Tied up with financial institutions like Shriram Transport and Finance Company and with OEMs like Ashok Leyland and Tata
- Has a stellar clientele that includes Zepto, Maersk, Godrej Agrovet, Gadre Marine, IB Group, Innovative Foods, Reliance Pharma, Balmer & Laurie, and Vadilal
Celcius’s web and Android applications allow a shipper to instantly book reefer vehicles or cold storage space across the nation and monitor the inventory LIVE! The shipper can download reports and receive specialized alerts for any variation in temperature maintenance or route deviations. The app also empowers the transporters to analyze how their vehicles are performing using TMS (Transport Management System) giving even the smallest of transporters the tools needed to maximize the utilization of their assets. Machine learning and predictive analysis allow the company to map requirements and deploy unused inventory at the right time and the right place. Within just two years, Celcius has grown from a team of 5 to a team of 72 with offices in 5 cities and a team presence in 12 cities across India. Shortly, Celcius would be upgrading the platform with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Inventory Management System (IMS). With its Transportation Management Systems (TMS) already live, this will bring end-to-end visibility in the storage and transportation of perishables under one platform while removing redundancies and optimising the entire supply chain. Having begun with primary distribution, this cold-chain logistics start-up added secondary (mid mile) distribution, started cold storage offerings about two months back and has added in-depth last mile deliveries in 6 cities thus creating a True Unbroken Cold Chain. Celcius would be further introducing an in-depth cold storage warehousing solution, securing a reach in over 500 cities, and scaling its business in terms of team size and reach by the turn of the year and is aiming at a USD 10 MN as part of its series A funding. Tons of food and vaccines are wasted every year in India (a whopping 30% of farm produce and 29% of vaccines). One of the main reasons for the wastage is the acute shortage of refrigerated vehicles and cold storage in India. Apart from reducing waste, enhancing the shelf life of products is also a need of the hour that an effective cold supply chain can resolve. The GOI has backed many supply chain and logistics projects with subsidies and waivers ever since the onset of the pandemic. The implementation of the National Logistics Policy (NLP), will enable the Indian logistics and warehousing sector to become better connected and transparent. For a nation that serves as a global pharmaceutical hub and enjoys massive investor interest, having a solid and resilient backbone of cold chain infrastructure is critical. And an Unbroken Cold Chain is the only solution.
