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Swarup Bose Built a ₹500 Crore Logistics Company Without Owning a Single Truck | Celcius Logistics
8 Plays14 hours ago
How did Swarup Bose build a ₹500 crore cold chain logistics company without owning a single truck?
In this episode, we unpack the asset-light playbook behind Celcius Logistics and the massive opportunity in India's broken cold chain industry. India wastes ₹1.3 trillion worth of perishables every year, with 23% of food rotting before it reaches consumers.
Swarup Bose saw this crisis firsthand during his 20 years in cold chain manufacturing and decided to fix it. Founded during the COVID lockdown in 2020, Celcius Logistics has grown from ₹8 lakh in monthly revenue to nearly ₹500 crore annually, serving quick commerce giants like Blinkit, Zepto, and Zomato.
In this candid conversation with host Akshay Datt, Swarup reveals how he raised capital from 85 individual investors with ₹1-10 lakh checks before landing a ₹250 crore Series B. He breaks down why cold chain is a "terrifying" industry where a 3-degree temperature shift can destroy an entire shipment, and how Celsius built proprietary tech to reduce wastage from 8% to just 0.4%. With IPO plans in the next three years, this is the definitive conversation on India's cold chain revolution.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:
👉🏻 How Swarup Bose built Celcius into India's largest tech-enabled cold chain platform without owning trucks or warehouses
👉🏻 The economics of cold chain logistics and why it is 2.5x more expensive but 2.5x more profitable than dry logistics
👉🏻 How Celcius powers quick commerce deliveries for Blinkit, Zepto, and other 10-minute delivery platforms
👉🏻 The fundraising journey from 85 angel investors to a ₹250 crore Series B during the funding winter
👉🏻 Why 85% of India's cold chain remains unorganized and how Celcius is aggregating this fragmented market
👉🏻 Swarup's IPO roadmap and vision for Celcius in the next five years
#FoodWasteIndia #AgriLogisticsIndia #StartupFundingIndia #SeriesBFunding #LogisticsTech #FounderThesis #IndianStartups #StartupIPOIndia #FarmToFork #PerishableLogistics #IndiaSupplyChain
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Transcript
Introduction to Celsius Logistics Solutions
00:00:00
Speaker
na Hi, this is Svaroobos. I'm the CEO and founder of Celsius Logistics Solutions.
00:00:13
Speaker
Svaroob, welcome to the Founder Thesis podcast. You're the founder of Celsius, which I guess I could describe it as a ship rocket for cold chain.
00:00:28
Speaker
ah You know how Shiprocket, the logistics unicorn is essentially an asset light aggregator. You are doing something similar for the cold chain? um I would see Celsius as a combination of ship rocket, delivery, let's transport, porter, all put together and an Uber kind of a model.
00:00:50
Speaker
If you look at the kind of services we give, you end up seeing um shadow of each of these companies ah put together and then Celsius is made.
00:01:03
Speaker
I thought someone like a ship rocket is already full stack. Is it not full stack? Like, like help me understand what what is full stack in
Exploring Full-Stack Cold Chain Logistics
00:01:10
Speaker
cold chain? like Like, you know, from point A, where it all starts to point Z, ah that take me through that A to Z.
00:01:20
Speaker
So in cold chain, um when I say, when we talk about full stack or end-to-end solution or something like that, it starts either from a farm where you are looking at fresh produce or from a manufacturing unit where you're looking at ready to eat or processed foods or something like that.
00:01:38
Speaker
It starts from there. ah It ends at your consumer's f place. It could ah pass through seven, eight different layers of ah storage, handling, distributors, wholesalers, retailers.
00:01:51
Speaker
ah But our journey ends when the consumer gets a hold of your product. Okay. Cold chain is not just frozen from what I understand. Then you're saying even fresh produce, ah cold chain is used for that.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. In fact, our biggest industries are in order are dairy, then comes pharma, then comes frozen, e-commerce, quick commerce, Horeka, modern trade, agriculture, a seafood, meat industry.
00:02:21
Speaker
All this is culture. Interesting. Okay.
Supply Chain Complexities for Produce
00:02:25
Speaker
Okay. um Give me a few ah example chains like say broccoli.
00:02:34
Speaker
What would the chain for broccoli look like or say ice cream? What would the chain for that look like? Like, you know, a couple of example chains ah like the A to Z ah of some of these. Okay, that's why.
00:02:46
Speaker
So, one of the most to complex supply chains today is very honestly in fruits. You can do ah huge quantity of that with a Blinket across India and for a lot of other clients, wholesalers, distributors.
00:03:02
Speaker
where we are ah looking at picking up fruit from the farm. I'm talking about fresh, absolutely fresh lichies or absolutely fresh mangoes or absolutely fresh stone fruits from Himachal or apples from Srinagar.
00:03:18
Speaker
these are ah These are fruits which are plucked at the farm. Hmm. process it there. We have a pre-cooling unit, a portable pre-cooling unit which reduces the temperature of the product immediately.
00:03:31
Speaker
Then we package it at the farm at a collection center. Then we put it in a refrigerated vehicle. Then we take it either to the airport or to a city or to a distribution warehouse depending upon what location the product is going to.
00:03:46
Speaker
and So ah we pick it up, package it, we distribute it we take it to a warehouse. From the warehouse, it is distributed to retailers on in small refrigerated vehicles.
00:03:58
Speaker
From there, ah in a lot of cases, ah it goes to the clients ah with riders. Riders carrying special bags with smooth-tane temperature and to deliver it to the end consumer.
00:04:10
Speaker
That is what a fruit supply chain, domestic fruit supply chain would look like. o Fascinating. So for Blinkit Fresh Produce, you you are managing the cold chain ah for them?
00:04:23
Speaker
ban Yeah. Blinkit is pretty much doing everything in cold chain. In fact, they are one of the only people in India who is spending in cold chain. ah They are obviously maintaining cold chain means you spend more money.
00:04:36
Speaker
But what it is, it reduces wastage. where annually ah India records a 23% wastage, almost a 1.3 trillion rupees worth of perishables being wasted every year.
00:04:48
Speaker
We have got a few companies who are now actively looking at saving the product instead of trying to pass on the wasted products cost to the consumers. ah Concept is save more, sell more.
00:05:01
Speaker
So save more, you need to follow a certain cold chain practice. All over the world, ah big chains like Walmart or Kmart, but these these guys have been doing this for years.
00:05:13
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure if you have been to US or Europe or anywhere, you would walk into a a department store and you would find all the fruits in a chilled compartment or under AC.
00:05:25
Speaker
And you will never just find them lying around the... non-temperature controlled. like Because the life cycle of a fruit actually increases when you maintain a proper cold chain.
00:05:37
Speaker
Not just for even vegetables and all. and When you talk about fruits of produce, pretty much 80-85% of the products need some sort of cold chain for it to be viable enough to sell.
00:05:51
Speaker
Okay. So,
00:05:54
Speaker
Why would Blinkit do the full chain? Why would it not just find somebody who will directly sell it, produce, which it directly delivers to the dark stores?
00:06:08
Speaker
Like Blinkit could say, okay, I want... 20 kilos of mango in each dark store in Bangalore at 8am. I'll just find a vendor who will deliver those 20 kilos of mangoes to each of those dark stores. Like what's the logic for a company like Blinket to invest in cold chain?
Blinkit's Investment in Cold Chain
00:06:27
Speaker
Two reasons. One is cost, other is quality. What happens is when you call for something to be directly delivered to the dark store, you have no control over the quality. It is quite possible that the products are not organically grown.
00:06:44
Speaker
They are not grown with the right methods. ah They could be artificially altered. ah You know, fruits can be given a color so that they look very fresh, but they are not. ah There is absolute zero control over quality when you are not able to trace the origin of the product.
00:07:02
Speaker
And that's obviously the cost. The number of middlemen between a farmer and a consumer, ah the farmer doesn't earn anything in this, the middlemen get richer and the consumer pays for all of that.
00:07:14
Speaker
So the concept, not just with Blinkit, every other large chain out there, they have started understanding one thing that if you want to deliver quality at a good cost, you need to go back to the source.
00:07:27
Speaker
A farm to fork, which was earlier just a line, is actually happening in India. It's taking shape. We are still at a very early stage, but we are looking at a revolution where a farm to fork is actually happening. And the quick commerce companies are the ones who are leading that charge of farm to fork.
00:07:47
Speaker
Absolutely. my Companies like Blinket, Amazon, ah Big Basket, all these guys are actively looking at solving this problem.
00:07:58
Speaker
ah yeah And we have been working with Blinket for more than a year and a half now. And we have seen phenomenal growth in how we are handling, oh i mean, a variety of products and fresh produce and leafy vegetables, products.
00:08:13
Speaker
does require innovation, does require innovative thinking on how to solve it at a at a good cost, not BPM. ah But ah we are getting there.
00:08:25
Speaker
And o oo in this cold chain, how is the ownership split between you and Blinkit? For example, who negotiates prices with farmers? um Who does quality check at various stages? Like, you know, what's the split of ownership?
00:08:42
Speaker
Okay. So negotiating with farmers, paying them, ah all belongs to Blinkit. ah At the farm level, quality check is done by both of us.
00:08:53
Speaker
And the entire supply chain ownership of quality is on us. So we make sure the temperature is maintained. we We obviously have a tech platform which is giving online data.
00:09:03
Speaker
It's a live form so you can see the product, temperature, humidity, status, location, everything online. So we give that transparent, ah the visibility to the client.
00:09:14
Speaker
ah But from our side, we own the quality of the product once it reaches our place. how How does a ah logistics company know what is...
00:09:25
Speaker
the right quality of mango like like how do you check quality uh wouldn't you need like an agro expert to say that yes this mango is good quality not good quality etc and do you also do like i believe last part of agro supply chain is also about sorting into different categories like you know premium grade and sub premium grade and so on so do you do all that also or Okay, so this is how it works.
00:09:53
Speaker
At a collection center, which is normally at a farm level, we have got Zepto officials who are doing this ah premium and sub-premium grading and checking material.
00:10:05
Speaker
ah They visit the farms along with our people. So we are there so that we can give them all the support on supply chain. But the sorting they do they pick up what what they need and yes sir ah you can judge a mango by its shape size aroma color there are a lot of factors in which ah the price of a product goes up and down so this lies responsibility lies with the okay so your responsibility is temperature
00:10:38
Speaker
Essentially, when you say quality, the quality means temperature. that that You will give us a product, we make sure the product actually goes in that same shape, size and color right up to your house. That's our responsibility.
00:10:51
Speaker
Okay, like there should be no physical damage due to mishandling, no damage due to loss of temperature, things like that. product will start ripening very fast. They'll overripen.
00:11:04
Speaker
So by the time it reaches your warehouse, say 30% of the product is already right. You cannot set it anymore because by the time you get it to your retailers, it it's overripen. Okay. Okay. Okay. Very interesting. um So how, you know, you are a new player in this, but cold chain as a concept has been around since forever.
Founding Celsius During COVID-19
00:11:26
Speaker
I believe you're like a COVID baby in a way. ah what was What's the legacy way in which this industry operates? How does the cold chain industry operate from a legacy perspective? you know How would a legacy player be operating versus ah how are you doing things differently?
00:11:45
Speaker
So the company is a COVID baby. Started at the end of 2020. But I have been in cold chain for almost 20 years now. So the journey of Celsius started 20 years back when I got into cold chain. Earlier business was also into manufacturing of cold chain products.
00:12:03
Speaker
um Traditionally, people have been working on assets. oh we need to put 100 vehicles because the client asked for it. We need a cold storage here because the clients are asking for it.
00:12:17
Speaker
There is a lot of demand in this area that we put a cold storage. And these are different vendors like the storage vendor, the the vehicle vendor, these are separate companies or one company can do storage vehicle everything?
00:12:30
Speaker
Generally, a warehouse guy does 75% warehouse, 25% vehicles. ah vehicles Okay. And a footer does 100% vehicles. Okay. So, transport and warehousing are two very different business with very different logistical requirements. So, people generally keep it separate.
00:12:49
Speaker
Okay. So, traditionally, it has been asset owners creating assets. Okay. very honestly not solutions. It's the same thing rinse and repeat rinse and repeat kind of a cycle.
00:13:01
Speaker
ah There is a demand in Delhi let's put up a course storage in Delhi. ah How do we solve for distribution in Chandigarh? That's not really our headache. the Whoever wants to distribute in Chandigarh they will figure it out.
00:13:13
Speaker
We will give space for storing. As opposed to what we do in Celsius is you want distribution in Chandigarh? Is it good if i give you of space in Delhi?
00:13:25
Speaker
Should I look for a space in Chandigarh? Will you also need local deliveries? So you will also need small vehicles. um Your quantity is less, so you need riders. Let me put up the riders.
00:13:35
Speaker
ah What else? yeah Do you want to go from Chandigarh to Ludhiana? Okay, let's ah let's look at a solution there. ah Will it be better for you? ah Will that help you reduce costs?
00:13:48
Speaker
We will look at rail as a transport. So that's a change in thought process behind the traditional there and what we do. Okay. So typically how this would operate, like say, a ah like Big Bazaar, how they would have been procuring would be through a, like they would have probably got hundreds of vendors that they would be working with. Like some for warehousing, some for transportation, etc., etc. like Like that's how typically this industry works. Like it's unorganized, fragmented. Am I right in that understanding?
00:14:23
Speaker
They would normally work with a trader. A trader will take the supply chain. yeah okay okay ah but Earlier, they would go to a trader, tell them, i need lichis during this season, this much quantity at this this this place. Now the trader takes care of procurement, storing, distribution, and that is his footing.
00:14:44
Speaker
and okay he's He is the typical middleman. Okay. so So he would know that, okay, from Himachal, this is the guy who has vehicles in Himachal who can deliver it at best cost. This is the right warehouse to store it at, etc. So the trader would have that local knowledge to work with the right vendors and stitch it all together. Obviously, he is put over warehouse because good rental.
00:15:09
Speaker
so you might up a warehouse most of the traders do that after they start earning a little first thing they do is put up their own warehouse on that income as well as the trading income okay okay got it got it ah so who who are like large players in this cold chain I believe there's a company called Snowman Snowman is the only listed company in India.
00:15:35
Speaker
Been in existence for almost, I think, twenty twenty five years now. ah there's that there are Obviously, there are other players. Guthi was into Cold Chain. Then Coldman was there.
00:15:47
Speaker
um See, in the organized segment... The mid-level players are the kings. We don't have a large-level player, very honestly. When you look at the entire logistics industry, Cold Chain does not have that one Sharukha.
00:16:02
Speaker
There is no DHL, there is no Blue Dart, there is no large logistics company like All Carvo, not there in Cold Chain. So it's it's being ah run by the mid-sized companies.
00:16:17
Speaker
And ah they constitute only 15% of the entire industry. 85% is still small guys, they are two tier 2, tier 3, tier 4 guys. It's a very a fragmented, unorganized market where 85 to 90% of the entire asset class lies with the unorganized sector.
00:16:40
Speaker
What is different about cold chain versus regular logistics that regular logistics has more large organized players, but in cold chain, it's not there. Is it that it's a smaller industry? So there's not too much investment happening in that sector? Or what is it like?
00:16:57
Speaker
Cold chain is scary. Okay. we do It is a terrifying sector. Okay. the In dry logistics, your warehouse does not have electricity. Fine.
00:17:10
Speaker
Vehicle gets somewhere. Okay. Your ah distribution is late. Not a problem. When it comes to cold chain, your AC unit shuts down. Your products are screwed.
00:17:22
Speaker
Your vehicle shuts down. Your products are ruined. your temperature is not maintained even by plus or minus 3-4 degrees, your products start rotting. Hold the product for too long, shelf life is over.
00:17:35
Speaker
ah During handling, there is a huge wastage which the client is now going to debit you for it. So, it's an industry where people don't take a bet very soon because...
00:17:47
Speaker
One, the know-how is not there on how to maintain proper, what are the backups, what how do you design a proper cold chain. And second, the investment is 2.5 times higher than what you would do in a dry supply chain, whether it be vehicle or warehouse, 2.5x4.
00:18:05
Speaker
So traditionally, people have been investing in dry because it's a little easier to pull off and you have a large customer base. Hmm. You have a dry warehouse, you can keep from tires to batteries to medicines to whatever you want.
00:18:19
Speaker
But when it comes to cold chain, you need to keep perishables. And know generally, work in one or two segments of perishables, but not anything. ah So you're saying in cold chain, the tolerances are very low.
00:18:34
Speaker
you You cannot have too many screw ups there, otherwise the product is gone. You cannot have almost no screw ups there. Too many is too many already. Okay, okay, fascinating. um Okay, understood. So now you're saying that it costs you two and a half times to set up cold chain, be it warehouse or vehicle. Do you also earn two and a half times?
00:18:58
Speaker
Obviously. Otherwise, the one's investing. Okay. Even investors wouldn't be investing with us. Yeah. You do earn two and a half times. The problem is you end up losing the money in debits.
00:19:09
Speaker
ah Material is spoiled. It's a debit. Handling. Handling may damage. oh yeah It's a debit. So, you end up losing a lot of money. So unless you have got robust systems, robust operations, robust tech, ah robust SOPs in place, ah the two and a half times whittles away very fast.
00:19:29
Speaker
So you almost need like a Six Sigma level of quality assurance to
Technology-Driven Asset-Light Operations
00:19:36
Speaker
make money. Without money for the Six Sigma. Okay, okay, okay. you're Hiring Six Sigma professionals, your costs will go up but through the roof.
00:19:46
Speaker
and Okay, okay. ah So, you know, help me understand what you have built. Like, how do you ensure quality, temperature, consistency, you know, all those screw ups should not happen. How do you ensure that they don't happen?
00:20:01
Speaker
See, when we started the company in 2020, we made a tagline, the true unbroken Kolse. Now, this tagline was very, very provocative, ah very bold.
00:20:14
Speaker
And it was not really something acceptable by the market that you claim to be the true unbroken culture. And obviously, we were not at that point. But the vision was always simple. um your supply chain is broken into primary, secondary, last mile distribution.
00:20:30
Speaker
You have weve got primary warehousing, secondary warehousing and ah last mile storage. Now, when you, and and last is hyperlocal. Hyperlocal is basically going to be our up to your customer's house.
00:20:43
Speaker
Last mile ends at a retailer or a store or a restaurant. But from there to your customer's house is the hyperlocal segment. From day one, we understood one thing. One, we are going to be asset light. We don't want to take money and put up three more cold storages. Doesn't solve for anything.
00:20:59
Speaker
It is just creating more wasted space. So we wanted to utilize market um assets in the market. We wanted to concentrate on tech, which would help us in tracking, tracing, analytics, predictions.
00:21:13
Speaker
So we started building the tech. Then we understood only building tech and giving a tech solution doesn't work in Kolche. Because the raw problems, ah transit damages, temperature loss during transit, negligence, ah not ah handling of products in a wrong manner, two fruits can be on a different temperature. One can be 228, one can be 15 to 25.
00:21:35
Speaker
Understanding all that required operational excellence. So we decided that while we are building the tech, we will also be doing running the operations for the client because the client is looking for complete solution.
00:21:49
Speaker
We started doing transportation first in that also primary first. Then we launched secondary. Then we launched last mile. Then we launched warehousing. then What is primary and secondary?
00:22:00
Speaker
Primary is your um interstate. So from any state to any state. Secondary is your intrastate within the distribution.
00:22:12
Speaker
Last one is inter and intracity. okay And I both do this up to... a Consumers house. yeah yeah that That's how at least we look at it generally. That's how it is seen at.
00:22:25
Speaker
So we started with primary, introduced secondary, ah then introduced last mile, then introduced warehousing, introduced our hyperlocal division. Then we got into air cargo. We got into rail cargo.
00:22:38
Speaker
So today Celsius ah is actually living up to the tagline that we created five years back. Today, when we say true unbroken, that means I can pick up 5000 tons of material from you or I can pick up 500 grams of material from you, transport across the country, deliver it to your client's house, track, trace, give you all the data and give you the assurity that we maintain temperature and we maintain quality.
00:23:07
Speaker
ah who Who were your first few clients? what Like, you know, how did the business get off the ground? All agents, brokers, wholesalers, wholesaler, distributors. I mean, obviously the bigger brands wouldn't be looking at us. We were a young company ah with a lot of dreams and lot of aspirations on what we wanted to achieve.
00:23:29
Speaker
ah But we did we hadn't really achieved anything. And we didn't have money. I mean, my first month's turnover was 8 lakh rupees. So, that too came from what on the um maybe a hundred lands.
00:23:42
Speaker
So, you could... But they were the first lands. Yeah. ah but they were the first lines um Slowly we shifted to the bigger clients and the corporates.
00:23:54
Speaker
But yeah. yeah Is this a very working capital heavy business? Like do you need to pay yeah your, so you're aggregating supply and adding a technology layer and then selling it to clients.
00:24:06
Speaker
The supply that you're aggregating, do you need to pay them before you get paid? in 50% of the cases and the balance 50% we get paid and they get paid almost at the same time.
00:24:19
Speaker
Okay. How did you like I'm sure in the early days it would have been very working capital intensive because the trust would not be there. Right. You you probably couldn't dictate payment terms to the suppliers who are supplying you. They would have wanted immediate payment because you were an unknown brand. And because you are struggling to get clients, so you would have agreed to... Number. Yes. yeah yeah yeah yeah watch slave yeah with noma Yes, we did. We did that.
00:24:50
Speaker
How did you fund all that that? Like through your savings or like... No, we begged, borrowed and we stole. Begged for me to get money, borrowed from all the friends and stole all the savings that we had in our own accounts. yeah yeah e We pretty much exhausted every avenue that we had for generating cash and got up in the business.
00:25:16
Speaker
Till we went into fundraising and landed our first check, then landed our second, then third, then fourth. kept going on okay where did you land your first check through 85 high net worth individuals wow so a check size of anywhere between 1 to 10 lakh okay okay And the, and the mehnat behind getting that was equal to 200 crore check.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, what i I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah. oh Like this was all like cold calling using your network, et cetera. Like saying that Bek borrows. ah kind of All like frozen calling.
00:26:02
Speaker
hold ah well well Cold calling was a good situation for us. We had to do frozen callings. Yeah. Number of calls. Spent 12 hours a day. So we were three founders, right? One was looking after tech.
00:26:14
Speaker
The other was looking after the company. And I was on a Zoom call or a meet call or a physical meet from 2020 till now. I mean, we've never spent, still doing that. But the quantum changes. Earlier, I was doing one-hour call to get a 5 lakh check. Now I took one-hour call to get a 200 crore check. That's the difference.
00:26:36
Speaker
okay Okay. Okay. Okay. I guess your first major check came in 2024, right? the The big check. Define major because trust me, the one crore check we got was also major.
00:26:50
Speaker
ah that okay Okay. good Very honestly, that was more major than the hundred crore check we got in 2024. The ah the one crore was a lifesaver. We partied hardest when we landed our first one crore check.
00:27:08
Speaker
Yeah. and And landing a 200 crore check, that the party was smaller. yeah So all that that was a major part. Okay. And when was this 1 crore check? 2020? 2021? June, Somewhere between June and now. Okay. Okay. Okay. Amazing. um Now, you're putting a technology layer, aggregating supply, putting a technology layer on top of it.
00:27:35
Speaker
I'm sure the layer is not all software. and Help me understand that layer which you're putting on top of, ah you know, aggregated trucks and warehouses because you would need the data to feed into your software. That data collection would need sensors, you know, like physical hardware. yes Free devices and stuff.
00:27:54
Speaker
Okay. It's not aggregating supply and then putting a tech layer. It's actually building the tech layer and then aggregating supply into the tech layer.
00:28:06
Speaker
So we we first built the tech layer. Then started aggregating supply. Help me understand, like just if you can zoom in on this, what's the difference between these two approaches? What exactly did you do?
00:28:20
Speaker
So either you could have gone the way that you started talking to transporter, going to client, get to some vehicles, place it with the client and do this entire transaction manually on the phone, ah give them updates on WhatsApp.
00:28:33
Speaker
What we did is first we built the TMS, the transport management solution. It's concentrated on Kolche. There are different TMS softwares in the market, but almost all of them are ah are ah banking towards the dry logistics.
00:28:51
Speaker
We created a completely ah cold-based transport management solution, which concentrated on temperature, humidity, different kind of SLAs. um We got IoT devices installed so that we could get live data on platform.
00:29:07
Speaker
And once it was done, we started spreading into the market, aggregating more and more trucks. So our platform was born first and the trucks came later.
00:29:18
Speaker
From day one, we have been able to give the clients a tech solution. What does a TMS do like Like it's for route planning and tracking which vehicle is where? Like what exactly is a TMS? Yeah.
00:29:33
Speaker
So, a transport management solution starts with ah you booking a truck. So, you will come online, you will give the information. I need a truck from Mumbai to Delhi, which has to be 15 tons. I need to carry apples, which are at 2 to 8 degrees. Or I need to carry ready-to-eat frozen foods, which are at minus 24. You'll give this information on the TMS booking form.
00:29:58
Speaker
After that, a vehicle gets assigned to you. Then the vehicle starts the journey and you will be able to track the vehicle live. You will be able to see the temperature live. You will be able to download reports. You will understand the EPA.
00:30:11
Speaker
ah You will understand oh any PLAs, any problems. And when the vehicle reaches its unloading point, you will be able to see the invoices, the proof of delivery, everything online.
00:30:24
Speaker
And then the invoice is generated and you pay ah for the trip online. So the TMS care of all of this from from our perspective. This is from the client's perspective.
00:30:35
Speaker
From our perspective, a TMS will ah track the inquiries coming in, track the vehicle locations, match the vehicle to the inquiries coming in. ah Then ah do in time with enough data, do predictability patterns so on data.
00:30:51
Speaker
which season, which location, how many vehicles, what size vehicles, which product will be up during the next quarter, which product will be down, which area will give more business, which area will give us less business.
00:31:05
Speaker
So the TMS predicts all this. And you have like ah coordinators who will speak to your supplier and tell them that I need more vehicles in Shimla because it's Apple harvesting season, for example.
00:31:19
Speaker
like Like that kind of coordination you would be doing with vendors. We have sales team, but with vendors, we don't need coordination because now after five years of data, we have a very high predictability rate on understanding where vehicles will be needed in which season and the quantity of vehicles.
00:31:39
Speaker
Like we can predict ah from December, Mahabaleshwar will need daily 50 vehicles for strawberry boomerang. So ah the vehicles are now planned and assigned by our TMS to move towards Maharashtra and Mableshwar so that we can service the strawberry season.
00:32:01
Speaker
So this is just an example of ah what I'm trying to explain to you what the TMS does. But this is a pan-India thing. We know wealth is more active in the season.
00:32:12
Speaker
Ice cream is more active in summer season. But even in ice cream, ah certain areas are more active than other areas during summer. So we deep dive into that much of data analysis to understand before the season hits where to move our assets, where to move our vendors, which area to service more.
00:32:34
Speaker
All that is tracked and understood by the team. So, your vendors would get like a next 30 days sheet. Like next 30 days, this is where I need your vehicle.
00:32:44
Speaker
Something like that. No, no. See, our vendors work with us how? ah They log into their app. They get an inquiry. Your vehicle has to move from Mumbai to Kolkata.
00:32:56
Speaker
When they reach Kolkata, they see a new inquiry for Kolkata to Chennai. When they in Chennai, they have an inquiry for Chandigarh. We don't have to bother about predictions, algorithms, collections, sales, none of it.
00:33:11
Speaker
They take care of the transit. That also our operations team is taking care of the actual transit, coordinating with the driver. The vendors ah make sure that the vehicles are serviced, maintained properly. The drivers are paid on time. EMIs are paid on time.
00:33:27
Speaker
Vehicle is in good condition. ah All this predictability is on our part. We are not giving them any predictions for the next one month. For them, it's a trip-to-trip basis and they don't they don't bother with where my vehicle is going to run because their next load is ready with us.
00:33:45
Speaker
What is the next action after this prediction? So, say you need more vehicles in Mahabalish world. What next? So, what our software will do is, it will start routing vehicles pan-India towards Mahableshwar during the right season.
00:34:03
Speaker
That means it will be reference to the inquiries which are heading towards Maharashtra Moore. We know now we have to route more vehicles there. So and when there is no demand in Maharashtra, the demand is going to come after 10 days.
00:34:17
Speaker
Our vehicle will now start routing the last trip of the vehicle. Our system will now start routing those vehicles to Maharashtra. Okay. Okay. Okay. Fascinating. Okay.
00:34:29
Speaker
ah Typically the ah vehicle is paid like a per kilometer
Vendor Partnerships and Logistics Reliability
00:34:33
Speaker
basis. How does that happen? The week commercial. Start on a lane. Okay. So like Chennai, Calcutta will have a fixed price, for example.
00:34:44
Speaker
We also get paid a fixed price. Similarly, we pay a fixed price. for These would be like market rates and maybe based on petrol prices, the rates get revised. Celsius always works in market rate. We don't charge a price.
00:34:58
Speaker
We make that much by increasing the number of trips a vehicle does. Not by undercutting the value of each trip. So instead of doing three and a half, four trips a month, you will do six trips a month.
00:35:13
Speaker
Okay. So if I'm a vendor who's signing up on Celsius, ah on a per-trip basis, I might be getting paid less than if I was to independently source business. But I'm getting a short business. I'm getting more volume. So that makes up for lower prices. At the end of the month, you'll earn more.
00:35:30
Speaker
And the the the statement that you would get more if you were sourcing is also wrong. Because... 99% of our clients won't work with individual transporters.
00:35:43
Speaker
There's no guarantee for the safety of the material. There is no backup. See, again, perished industry. If you have two clients and you want to work with Parag Dairy, if they fill you your vehicle and your vehicle breaks down, what kind of support can you offer?
00:36:01
Speaker
Their entire material will go to waste. All that they will debit you is the price of the journey. That's maybe 1 lakh rupees and they have got 90 lakh worth of material in the week.
00:36:11
Speaker
So most of the clients will want to work with people who can provide backup, have a team, have the expertise, a professional company. So ah you remember I told you 85% is unorganized. Yeah. ah They cannot work with these companies directly.
00:36:27
Speaker
Yeah. Now we work with them and we take these guys. So a small a transporter from Chennai today would be working with Dr. ATS. wires obviously we own on product and then we would be passing it on to them what the clients believe is what we have built the software the SOPs the team is what is worthy of service they all know we don't own any vehicles they all know we are asset light but we keep getting a business year on year our average growth with clients is almost 130% year on year that happens because of superior service
00:37:08
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Okay. Amazing. um What's the margin like for you? Like how much do you charge a client for one trip out of which? How much do you get to keep? How much is given to the vendor?
00:37:21
Speaker
Okay, so first of all, there is no fixed margin. yeah There are a lot of parameters there. What product, what lane, what season, what vehicle, size of vehicle, frequency of requirement, one time, half full month, sky it's a contract, it's no contract.
00:37:39
Speaker
So pricing is very complex. There's no standard per kilometer charge like a courier delivery. lower it not okwa than It's nothing like that. So pricing is very, very vast in this.
00:37:52
Speaker
I mean, Bombay Delhi 15 tons of apple is different from Bombay Delhi 15 tons of pharma. Okay. i'll Temperature is the same. Both are two tools. But price is different. So, it all depends upon ah all these factors.
00:38:09
Speaker
So, there is no standard pricing in this. But ah like, what is an average margin that you can keep?
00:38:18
Speaker
I mean, if you're talking about what our gross margins are, then that's too confidential and I'm not really talking about it from a very open forum.
00:38:27
Speaker
we we We do make good money. But ah the thing to remember here is our vendors make good money. Yeah, but because of the efficiencies and repeat business, like you're giving them volume, like more business and more business, less breakdowns, more support, less break with collections.
00:38:49
Speaker
oh oh It's an end-to-end thing. If their vehicle breaks down in the middle of Guati, our transporter really does not have any recourse, but we have a team.
00:38:59
Speaker
a We tie up with Ashok Leyland and Tata's and we make sure that vehicles are serviced i soon, back on the road soon, driver some help. we Our team make sure that that is there.
00:39:11
Speaker
So for the vendor, for the transporter, we are not just an inquiry platform. For them, we are end-to-end partner.
00:39:22
Speaker
yeah You're a livelihood platform for them, basically. We're a partner. I mean, we work. Without us, they don't get the business. Like Uber, like like you rightly said. like People buy vehicles for putting them on Uber. right So, I imagine it would be similar for you.
00:39:39
Speaker
yeah Yeah, absolutely. We have a program called VVY, which ah is for commercial vehicles, what Uber did for taxis.
00:39:50
Speaker
As in you you help with the financing, helping them get loans? No. So, we yeah we help them get the loans. We don't finance it. We don't become a part of their loan.
00:40:02
Speaker
But we help. We sign a deal with them. Basis on that agreement, banks give them loans. They get much better rates. They get much better... ah Much better...
00:40:14
Speaker
interest rates and ah cost of the vehicle. That also reduces conversion. Okay, you have like the power of group buying. So you are able to get them lower cost vehicle. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Amazing. um Okay, so ah what about sensors and all? Do vehicles come already equipped with sensors? Like you would need to know like like GPS and temperature, these two data points you would need for every vehicle, right? So are these already pre-built into vehicles or do you have to install them?
00:40:46
Speaker
ah No, none of the vehicles have it pre-built. IoT package has to be installed. So now when somebody buys a new vehicle, it comes pre-installed, but it is installed separately. As in the OEMs don't really do this. We yeah we have tied up with the IoT manufacturers who do this.
00:41:04
Speaker
um So it's not just temperature and GPS. We have got an AC on-off sensor so that the if somebody switches off the AC manually, we come to know immediately.
00:41:15
Speaker
We have got a door opening sensor for either theft or if somebody keeps the door open for longer, we have alerts built in. Because the moment you open the door, temperature is gone, right? So you shut the door fast.
00:41:28
Speaker
It's like door. Right. You wouldn't keep it open and just leave it open. So similarly, you need to close. So there's a door sensor. There's a GPS sensor. There are two temperature sensors. There is one AC on-off sensor.
00:41:44
Speaker
ah In some vehicles, there's a fuel sensor. In pharma vehicles, there are two cameras. There is an ADAS feature built into the cameras. What ADAS? ADAS? advanced driver management systems.
00:41:57
Speaker
So, these are when driver is sleepy or driver is not wearing a seat belt or driver is drunk or he's driving outside his ah number of hours of driving.
00:42:12
Speaker
All that is by the camera. So, ah these are all the systems put into a vehicle. Similarly, similar systems are put into wearable. And very similar systems go into every rider, every last mile vehicle. So the entire ecosystem is connected with IoT devices. Mm-hmm.
00:42:33
Speaker
Okay, okay. For pharma, you need more ah sensors because it's high-value product, I assume. Like a loss over there would mean much bigger loss than apples.
00:42:44
Speaker
Not just because of loss. It is also because these are all life-saving drugs, medicines. ah You wouldn't want to consume medicines which ah have lost temperature and then made temperature.
00:42:57
Speaker
ah Your vaccines, if they were not being stored at minus 20 degrees, they would be ineffective. Okay. We want to monitor them more code closely. And obviously, pharma industry has stricter norms.
00:43:10
Speaker
But if those norms are what gives us the surety that medicine and vaccine that we are taking are actually effective. Okay. These are more critical products and lower tolerances. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. Okay.
Warehousing Pricing Strategies
00:43:25
Speaker
Okay. And ah how does pricing work for warehouse service? so Like for transport service, you told me like there fixed rates for different routes and based on the product that you are transporting, things like that will determine pricing. What about for warehousing?
00:43:41
Speaker
That's pretty standard, like a per-colot rate. a pallet is about one ton of material anywhere between 800 kg to one ton. So whatever you're sending divided by that is the number of pallets you're sending.
00:43:54
Speaker
So storing and there is a per pallet charge depending upon but that charge also differs depending upon which city, which area, which season. Off season less, on season more, metro cities more, tier two cities less.
00:44:09
Speaker
So but And whether it's frozen or chilled or ambient, again, lot of parameters. okay But the standard, it's a per pallet rate. ah in the Of your total top line, what percentage is transport, what percentage is warehouse, what percentage is other services?
00:44:28
Speaker
About 60% is transport. It's the oldest and the biggest segment for us ah where ah because that's a five-year-old segment. Warehouse is a two-year-old segment which takes about 20% of our turnover.
00:44:44
Speaker
Our new age business which takes care of the ah hyper-local deliveries, the air cargo, the road transport, be the Project with Blinket for fruits and vegetables, that takes care of about 15%.
00:44:58
Speaker
ah That's a year-old department. ah ah The balance goes into Pharma, which is a five-month-old department. Okay.
00:45:09
Speaker
Okay. why get into hyperlocal? I mean, if there are specialized hyperlocal like Blinkit, Zepto, even I'm sure Licious and all would have their own hyperlocal setup in place. Why i get into that segment? I mean, it seems like a very crowded segment where it is already organized.
00:45:27
Speaker
Whereas the other segments you are in are unorganized. So it makes sense for you to come in and focus on those.
00:45:36
Speaker
Who do you think does the hyperlocal for Licious? and Do you do it? We are not a B2C. Okay. Somebody doing hyperlocal, somebody is actually supplying them with the assets of the hyperlocal.
00:45:53
Speaker
we We are in that space. Okay. We are not doing hyperlocal in the sense that you see. boom Okay. i'm not So, if demand-led, basically, if Lesha has told you... I want you to handle hyperlocal for me in Chandigarh, then you will do it. Yes, absolutely. That's how we do.
00:46:13
Speaker
We handle last mile, we take it to the stores. If they want local deliveries to be done, they will tell us, okay, appoint 10 riders. So, we um the bags, so their branded bags, we will buy, we will make sure that everything is ready. Riders go pick it up. Yeah.
00:46:29
Speaker
So, again, we are the backbone upon which the supply chain works. We are not the front-facing company. We are all the front-facing companies. So, ah like the electric bike riders.
00:46:41
Speaker
The electric bikes are owned and operated by somebody else. But they're used by Zomato and Swiggy for deliveries. Yeah. What is the margin profile for these various businesses? Like, I'm not asking you to give me numbers, but which businesses have better margins, which businesses are currently low margins, but you feel with volume, they will be more profitable. Help me.
00:47:07
Speaker
ah Like, I'm sure you would have done these analysis. really See, that's pretty standard. It's it's not a trade secret. Transport is always the lowest lowest margin, high volume business.
00:47:21
Speaker
Okay. Where everything is higher margin, higher volume. ah New Age is low volume, high margin. ah And pharmaceutical is ah middle volume, high margin.
00:47:35
Speaker
Okay. so And this is pretty standard even in dry. It's not or something revolutionary or suddenly you cannot make more money. Because like I said, we work on market standards.
00:47:45
Speaker
We really do a premium pricing because we are giving you India's only tech platform, the first tech platform, first this platform. all this first and unbroken and true unbroken does not come at a premium.
00:47:59
Speaker
If it did come at a premium, we wouldn't survive in the market. At the end of the day, it corrects itself and gets the right costing out. oh So, yeah, ah margin profiles are...
00:48:12
Speaker
it I would have thought that hyperlocal would not be very profitable because and the asset utilization, like, I mean, for travel, I'm sure asset utilization is pretty high, like for for the transportation business, for warehousing business also, you could probably have predictable asset utilization and plan accordingly. um ah it It seems to me that the hyper-local business would not have predictable utilization patterns for you to ensure ah asset utilization and stuff like that. And therefore, it would not be so profitable as compared to transportation or warehousing. Okay. So that is true for the dry segment.
00:48:56
Speaker
ah The orders can ebb and flow very high. But when comes to the perishable segment, it's pretty predictable. Because ah strawberry, example, strawberries. It's going to be in season from November to February.
00:49:11
Speaker
It's not like but if you suddenly have a demand in July, you can supply a lot of strawberries. not going happen. So during that season, ah because it's a short shelf life product and a short manufacturing product, the demand is very high.
00:49:28
Speaker
So obviously, the services are high and obviously the margins are high. well So when it comes to coal change, some of the economics change when it comes to dry.
00:49:40
Speaker
Hmm. So, very honestly, cold chain gives you more money. All over the world, you will see cold chain as being one of the premium offerings in the market. If India is where cold chain was being treated like a foster child. It's high risk, basically. High risk. So, people stayed away. Yeah.
00:50:03
Speaker
All over the world, people realize high risk of cold chain was worth it because it dealt with perishables. And with, ah you have seen how the hunger index works, right?
00:50:13
Speaker
We slipped on the ranking. The world over, there is a shortage of food. ah There is no place who can say we are self-sufficient, we don't need anything else.
00:50:24
Speaker
Population is ever-expanding. So the only way mankind survives is when you are handling your perishables properly. How much money can you make if you don't have anything to eat? So eat and medicine.
00:50:37
Speaker
I love to say this that roti, kapda, makaan and dawai. yeah The basic necessities of a human. Out of roti and dawai is what we deal in. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah but yeah maybe when that's a leg up You cannot do it with roti.
00:50:52
Speaker
So it is of any a very profitable industry. Only problem was people were not exploring it properly. And some facts scare away most of the industry.
00:51:04
Speaker
We hope to become the shining example in cold chain that yes, please come, invest, make money. It is possible to do. Yeah. That's what we are hoping to be in the coming years.
00:51:18
Speaker
ah How much money have you raised in the last two years? You said in 24, you raised 100 crores. Yeah, in 25, we raised 250 crores. We have raised about 400 crores in total.
00:51:29
Speaker
Okay. um Considering you are asset light, why do you need so much money?
00:51:37
Speaker
tech expansion, team expansion, area expansion. We are in more than 600 cities now. We'll be touching a thousand cities by March. ah Working capital requirement.
00:51:48
Speaker
oh Tech obviously is expensive to make. oh money goes there. I mean, it's not any one place we are not investing into assets. We are investing into capturing the market.
00:52:03
Speaker
In five, we have operations running in more than 600 cities. In five, we are closing in on 500 crores of turnover. All this has been possible because we were able to invest into expansion, not into assets.
00:52:16
Speaker
So, So yeah, the that's that's where the money goes. we have built a team of about 400 people and it is a future-proof team. That means these guys can take care of 1,500 crore turnover.
00:52:31
Speaker
And you have to keep building that before the demand comes Perishables is something that people need to go through training. Even the best, ah I've got people from DHL, from Reliance, from Delivery join us.
00:52:44
Speaker
But even those guys need to go through a two, three month training to understand cold. They've spent their life in logistics, but cold is different. They need to understand that. So all this, the money goes into all that.
00:52:57
Speaker
What does your org chart look like? Like, you know, what are the major functions and how many people in those functions? What are they doing? So, three founders, CEO, CO, CTO.
00:53:12
Speaker
ah Then the L1 has got a business head for every division. ah Transport has one business head. Hyperlocal has one business head. Warehouse, pharma, operations, finance. These have got business heads.
00:53:26
Speaker
These are guys who are more qualified than me. who have spent more time in logistics than me and are better people than me. But my other one, under them, they have their city heads, national heads.
00:53:39
Speaker
They have their executives, sales, operations. Everyone has their own hierarchies. All in all, 400 such people. What do these city heads do? Are these ops people or sales people?
00:53:51
Speaker
Either, both. ah the The kind of work you have in cold chain, there is a lot of mixed functionality. So, while there are few people who are just sales, who are just ops, a majority of the people handle both.
00:54:06
Speaker
Okay. So it seems like this would not be an industry where sales is a big challenge. Like like you need a dedicated... Demand is a big challenge, yeah. Okay. When you write solutions, demand is not really ah your big headache.
00:54:25
Speaker
In this industry, the big headache is the supply, not the demand. Okay. Okay. So it's more about crafting the right solution for each customer, basically. Like when Blinkit wanted you to handle fresh produce, you would have probably needed to create that solution from scratch. So so therefore, you need an ops guy to do sales because only an ops guy can make the right solution.
00:54:47
Speaker
Correct. So there is a picture role now because he is also increasing sales with Blinkit, but he is creating on-ground solutions. ah ah eventually ah we we So we don't need to appoint one more guy for handling Blinkit.
00:55:03
Speaker
That same person doing this. Right, right, right, right, right. Okay, okay. Interesting. um What do you so you're closing for 500 crores? Yes, no man, which is the listed entity in the space? ah What kind of turnover do they do? Like, where would you rank in this industry?
00:55:21
Speaker
So roughly around 500 crores is what Snowman also does. Okay. Ranking-wise, very honestly, we would be right at the top now. ah But that's that's not really an achievement. The top is actually very low.
00:55:36
Speaker
We have not... No one has reached the top here. Okay. like what Out of the first 10 ranks, there is nobody in India. We're ranking from the 11th rank. How big is this market? Okay.
00:55:49
Speaker
huge. like mean, what's their time? I'll, I'll tell you. ah Dairy industry is a $120 billion dollars industry. The industry altogether, not statistics. Pharma is a $80 billion dollars industry.
00:56:02
Speaker
Agriculture, no one has really been able to map the size of it. Um, Modern trade, Horeca, Q-commerce, e-commerce, ah seafood, meat, all this put together would be about a $500 billion dollars industry. And they spend ah about 13 to 15% on logistics and warehousing.
00:56:22
Speaker
And 70% of that ah would be cold, especially for industries like dairy and pharma, 70% is cold. So we're looking at a anywhere between 40 50 billion dollar logistics industry.
00:56:37
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Okay, that's amazing. Which is why I guess a lot of investors would have been excited ah yeah because you've you've raised a lot of money in just last two years.
00:56:52
Speaker
I guess most of the 400 crores you raised in the last two years only, right? 24 and 25 have been big years for us. And that's also pushed us so of from a from a 100 crore turnover to almost reaching 500 crore turnover.
00:57:11
Speaker
That's the kind of growth we have been able to. but Like 23, you closed at 100? 23, we closed at 100, yeah. Wow, amazing amazing. So what's the road ahead?
00:57:22
Speaker
How do you see the next, ah say, five years going? Okay. So obviously expansion into the new divisions that we have started. Pharma will be something ah big, ah which is going to grow into a huge division for us.
00:57:37
Speaker
ah The air cargo, the rail, we'll be going into cross border. We'll be entering into shipping. ah We will also be launching into different countries.
00:57:47
Speaker
We'll be looking forward to an IPO event. ah So next five years is going to be crazy busy for us. What's your IPO benchmark? At at what kind of top line will you plan to do an IPO?
00:58:02
Speaker
Once we cross a thousand groups. So maybe like two two years at best, right? That's the plan. Two, three years we should be entering into IPO kind of as a situation.
00:58:13
Speaker
Amazing, amazing. And do you think you'll need to raise more funds?
Vision and Imagination in Startups
00:58:18
Speaker
We will be doing one round before that. Hmm. ah generally like a pre-ITO round. Right.
00:58:24
Speaker
But I don't think more than that. One round with you and then IKEA. Okay. So, you know, what's your advice to founders, uh, both in terms of like a founder who wants to build within this space that you're in and in general, like like you had almost two decades of experience before starting Celsius as an entrepreneur. um And I'm sure that journey was of a different scale. Like like what was the peak ah revenue you hit in that journey, the previous manufacturing business?
00:58:56
Speaker
What I'm doing monthly here now was my yearly there. So, so you know, what... ah what made that step change happen? Like now... COVID made that step change happen. I mean, manufacturing unit shut down in COVID and me and my co-founders were just sitting at home one evening having drinks.
00:59:17
Speaker
ah Just chilling because no work and the entire idea of Celsius, including the logo of Celsius, the tagline of Celsius, everything was created in a matter of five hours.
00:59:29
Speaker
And that line and that logo has not changed till date. oh but So that is what prompted Celsius. Otherwise, ah ah being a homegrown entrepreneur, a family business kind of a thing, ah you don't really get to innovate too much.
00:59:51
Speaker
It's more about getting the bread at the end of the day, no support. Today, I've got some fantastic investors on board. I mean, they are my sounding board. They are my guides.
01:00:02
Speaker
ah They help in understanding how we can create a bigger business, how to expand. But a traditional business is more about your own gut feelings and taking the risks than taking smaller risks. Obviously, you can take a bigger risk.
01:00:18
Speaker
But So honestly, very, very different kind of. what What are your lessons, you know, for people who aspire to have that kind of step change? You know, you know, this is like a massive. So you're now like 12x of what you were doing five years ago.
01:00:37
Speaker
What made that step change possible? Is it about finding the right market or is it about ah being tech friendly or is it about you know taking bigger risks? What is it that made this happen?
01:00:53
Speaker
See, very honestly, you hedge your risk by the idea you have. It depends upon your dedication on the idea. There is no idea in the world which will work on day one. That's for sure.
01:01:03
Speaker
But all family businesses are run by extremely hardworking entrepreneurs, right? They they work 15 hours a day. So so that dedication is not a is not something which causes you to had hit that kind of t twelve l x jump.
01:01:20
Speaker
So when it comes to startups, you are generally not doing something which is an existing demand in the market or you have a special product in the market or like you're making gaskets for Mahindra and Mahindra.
01:01:36
Speaker
That business, right? That's ah that's a business. And I'm sure the person running that business would be working 12 hours a day, for sure. You'd be working 18 hours a day. um Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah yeah yeah ah But he is making gaskets so that Mahindra and Mahindra can have the gasket for their vehicles and it's a specialized gasket. That's a business.
01:01:59
Speaker
Startup is when you want to create Mahindra and Mahindra. But not in the industry which exists. Industry which does not exist. People don't know about it. You are creating a solution for a gap in the market.
01:02:11
Speaker
are You build a gap. And you say, oh, this is not there. Let me create it. Let me create something that will not only work in my city, but in my state, in my country, but all over the world.
01:02:23
Speaker
With aspirations like that, where you think the gap that you saw is something you can scale up exponentially, is to enter startup. So like the the limitation is your ambition.
01:02:38
Speaker
Like you're limited by your ambition. Your imagination, not a mission a ambition. Ambition, see, very honestly, ambition everyone has. I mean, every office going person is ambitious enough to create their own company.
01:02:51
Speaker
a Are they imaginative enough to imagine that company before it is created? Being able to say, I will create the true unbroken cold chain versus being able to create the true unbroken cold chain are two very different things.
01:03:06
Speaker
So, are you able to imagine the company that you will achieve? Because then will give you the strength to go through the hardships. But if you are not able to imagine it yourself, how do you convince an investor on that imagination, on that idea?
01:03:22
Speaker
How do you convince investor on that vision if you are not able to see that path and that end the place very clear? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. ah So, I honestly believe that is one of the biggest differentiations between a startup founder and entrepreneur.
01:03:40
Speaker
It's not that either of them work any less than the other. Yeah. But mindset. or The vision. The vision. The vision. For me, I will make gaskets for Mahindra and Mahindra today. And I will make it for Tata also tomorrow.
01:03:54
Speaker
I will sell this product to three people. Yeah. Versus… I will create a product which people don't know is required and then the world will want it. Two different things.
01:04:05
Speaker
So if there's one takeaway from this conversation, it's to dream big. now To imagine big. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fascinating. Awesome. Thank you so much for a time, Saurabh. I had a lot of fun.
01:04:19
Speaker
Same here, Akshay. Same here. Thank you so much.