Celcius Logistics enters pharma with Celcius+, ₹50 crore investment

Celcius Logistics today (August 12, 2025) in Hyderabad announced the launch of its specialised pharmaceutical logistics arm Celcius+. The service offers primary and secondary distribution, along with last-mile pharma courier delivery for vaccines, biologics, insulin, and specialty medicines.

Celcius will invest ₹50 crore into the pharma arm, of which ₹35 crore is for deploying 100 new reefer vehicles while ₹15 crore is to build a pharma courier system in urban and semi-urban markets. Celcius has set a goal to achieve 100 crore Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) from Celcius+ within the next 18 months.

"With Celcius+, we are not only expanding capacity but also setting new benchmarks for wastage reduction, safety, transparency, and operational excellence in pharma logistics,” said Swarup Bose, Founder & CEO of Celcius Logistics.

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Celcius Logistics Solutions has grown from a tech-driven cold chain marketplace into a full-stack cold chain 3PL provider.

Operating on an asset-light model, the company connects shippers, transporters, and other stakeholders through its SaaS platform, integrating TMS, WMS, IMS, and last-mile delivery, which spans 600 cities, with 4,500+ refrigerated vehicles, 107+ cold storages, 65 distribution hubs, 250 riders, and a workforce of about 2,000. Celcius serves over 700 clients across pharma, dairy, seafood, meat, F&B, Horeca, modern trade, e-commerce, quick commerce, and fresh produce.

According to Bose, the company is on track to close the year at around ₹400 crore turnover, targeting EBITDA break-even by mid-2026 at ₹500 crore revenue and PAT positive at ₹750 crore. Earlier this year, Celcius raised 250 crore in an oversubscribed Series B funding round, bringing the total fund raised to over 390 crore.

“We have plans for an IPO over the next three years,” revealed Bose during the launch of Celcius+ in Hyderabad.

“Pharma has always been one of the most critical cold chain industries, but it’s also the most compliance-heavy. We didn’t want to enter without being completely ready,” he said.

He informed that Celcius has been operating in pharma for the past four to five months and has already secured major contracts, while also noting that all their services and GDP compliant.

“Last year, after building our team and processes, we started the pharma division,” he said.

While showcasing the Celcius+ 24-ft reefer vehicles, in-house built tech dashboards, and PCM-based passive packaging solution in Hyderabad, he pointed out the real-time visibility features of the live displays, which include a feed on the driver, temperature, location, alerts and AI-enabled route optimisation.

“We have introduced vehicles with CCTV digital locks, which cannot be opened unless a client opens them. They cannot be tampered with. We have driver management. We have a live video feed of a driver, where we are managing drivers’ fatigue, sleepiness to avoid accidents on the road,” said Bose.

Thus, the reefer vehicles come equipped with advanced telematics, digital lock systems, interior and exterior CCTV surveillance, and 24/7 temperature and location tracking via a central control tower.

“On the Celcius+ application, the clients can look, monitor, and analyse their data. Whether it is in transport or in a warehouse, everything is live and accessible,” said Bose.

The industry wastes about 8% of the entire material at transit, points out Bose, while mentioning the exceptional record maintained by Celcius.

“Over the past four years, Celsius has a record of 0.4% against 8%. We have never lost a truckload. Breakdowns and accidents are going to happen. What you can do is respond to it fast enough,” he said.

Celcius also tracks live 4,000 vehicles across India 24/7 and has exclusive contracts with carrier service centres and Ashok Leyland.

He also informed that Celcius+ will be soon launching a warehousing division, while the Part Load Express called CelciusX will be operational by the end of August from Delhi and Hyderabad.

Celcius will also add 30-40 specialised team members with expertise in pharma logistics, operations, and regulatory compliance.

Celcius Logistics is gearing up for a rapid scale-up, with plans to add 400 more cities to its network in the next 12 months, followed by international forays. The company is also eyeing deeper involvement in railways and air cargo to strengthen its cold chain capabilities.

“Over the next year, what you will see is us expanding from 600 cities to 1,000 cities. Over the next couple of years, you will see some international expansion. We are going to foray more into railways. We are looking at expanding our footprint into air cargo,” said Bose.

“The next couple of years are very exciting times — product launches, expansion, technology offerings.”