Celcius Logistics, a domestic aggregator offering end-to-end cold-chain solutions, has raised Rs 250 crore ($29.7 million) in funding comprising a mix of equity and debt, a top executive told VCCircle.
The startup, which nearly a year ago raised Rs 40 crore ($4.8 million then) in a bridge funding round, has now closed its Series B funding round. The latest funding was split evenly between equity--including both primary and secondary--and debt, said founder and CEO Swarup Bose.
The equity portion was co-led by European venture capital firm Eurazeo and India-based agriculture-focused VC Omnivore, with participation from existing investor IvyCap Ventures. Venture debt was provided by venture debt funds Trifecta Capital, Lighthouse Canton, BlackSoil, UCIC, and GetVantage.
The fresh capital will be used to expand Celcius Logistics’ network to over 1,000 cities across India and to enhance its technology platform, the company said. “Our target for the financial year is to reach and service about 1,000 cities. Currently, we are present in about 625 cities across India and (want to) cover more regions,” said Bose, adding that the company is especially focused on expanding in the northeastern region, including cities such as Siliguri and Guwahati. “We are also expanding into a lot more cities in the south, beyond the west and north, where we have a firm presence already,” Bose added.
The equity funding will go toward launching new services, and expanding into additional regions and cities, Bose said. “The debt will be used as working capital for managing manpower and operating warehouses and vehicles,” he added.
The latest funding follows a pre-Series B round led by IvyCap Ventures, which also led Celcius’ Rs 100 crore Series A round in April 2023.
Founded in 2020 by Bose, Celcius operates an integrated online platform that provides end-to-end cold-chain supply solutions, including transportation, warehousing, last-mile, and hyperlocal delivery services. It serves sectors such as dairy, pharmaceuticals, fresh agriculture produce, fruit exports, and seafood.
"India’s fragmented cold chain ecosystem has long constrained the flow of critical products such as food and pharmaceuticals across the country, resulting in significant economic and access inefficiencies," said Ernest Xue, managing director at Eurazeo, along with Julien Mialaret, operating partner, and Matthieu Bonamy, partner at Eurazeo. "As climate volatility accelerates and global demand for resilient infrastructure grows, there is a critical need for intelligent platforms that drive both decarbonization and systemic reliability at scale.”
Celcius’ platform allows customers to explore, book, monitor, and receive real-time updates and data analytics for their cold-chain supply needs.
Further, Celcius is establishing cold-storage logistics infrastructure for sectors such as dairy, quick-commerce, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, and fresh produce for efficient delivery. Its clients include Zomato, SpiceJet, Reliance Pharma, Maersk, Prabhat Dairy, Baskin Robbins, Vadilal, Domino’s, Keventers, and Godrej Agrovet, among others.
Currently, the company operates in over 600 cities with a network of more than 4,000 vehicles and 150-plus cold storage and distribution facilities.
