Hyderabad engineer quit his well-paying job to start taking corporate employees for workshops into the jungles; clocked Rs 2.5 Cr in revenue

Corporate off-sites are important.  They are a fun way to connect with team members, have meetings and enjoy the resort.

But Sai Kiran Bhagavatula, the founder of Wildlife Whisperers, has a different take.

He believes corporate off-sites have become very templatized over the years. The immersive and learning aspects are not fresh and enjoyable.

For instance, every team goes to a resort, has conferences all day, and they dance and drink at the gala dinner, with music and meals. The next day, the same thing repeats, and then it is time to head back.

“I decided to start Wildlife Whisperers as a startup that offers an immersive travel experience that is calming, mindful, and rooted in nature. Our programs are inspired by how our forests work. And how the ecosystem has leadership, teamwork, diversity to keep this planet alive and efficient,” Sai Kiran Bhagavatula tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

“Our participants are encouraged to truly absorb nature and learn from it. We blend the natural world with the corporate world by conducting trainings and workshops in jungles,” he adds.

Founded in 2023, Wildlife Whisperers connects the corporate world to the natural world by offering and conducting a host of professional workshops for enterprises, organizations, and companies, set amidst the depths and silence of the jungle.

In FY24, the immersive engagement and learning startup clocked an annual revenue of Rs 2.5 crore.

Also Read: Frustrated Aspring Actor Launches LinkedIn-Style Platform for Entertainment Talent — Targets 20M Users and $55M in Revenue

HOW IT ALL BEGANL

Hailing from Warangal in Telangana, Sai Kiran Bhagavatula studied electronics and communication from the Kamala Institute of Technology and Science. Right after his undergraduate degree, he worked in India for a couple of years in the field of Business Intelligence and Data Analytics.

In 2015, he moved to the United States to pursue his Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He then worked in the field of Data Analytics in the United States. Ultimately, he decided to return to India and spend time with his family.

Alongside his professional work, he would also take up freelance opportunities in photography to help inspire the conservation of nature.

“I have almost always been close to nature. In India, work would take me to Bengaluru, Chennai, West Bengal, and Mumbai. I would always try visiting the neighbouring jungles,” Sai Kiran shares.

“Then, when I was in the USA, I would make it a point to be close to nature and life forms like trees, plants, and flowers. I covered all major national parks across 49 states in the USA and tried understanding their ecosystems,” he adds.

In 2020, Sai Kiran began playing with the idea of launching a startup that blended nature and learning. But he didn’t want it to become a conventional travel startup that merely promotes and organizes trips, and acts as an aggregator.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sai Kiran got enough time to conduct research. He discovered that immersive corporate learning was missing in India.

Sai Kiran decided to address this gap and launch Wildlife Whisperers as a startup that encouraged a marriage between the ancient culture of venturing into the jungles and the new-age, modern and professional practices in offices.

“I wanted the corporate world to meet the natural world. I knew that the former could learn and absorb a lot from just being amidst untamed nature and wildlife. I shared my vision with Ms Arpita Khadria, who is a serial entrepreneur and a reputed brand consultant. She is extremely close to nature as well. She became my mentor and co-owner of Wildlife Whisperers,” startup founder Sai Kiran tells Startup Pedia.

In 2023, Sai Kiran finally launched Wildlife Whisperers as an immersive engagement and learning startup. It began with a bootstrapped amount of Rs 20 lakhs.

Sai Kiran and his team started building curated experiences in jungles for small teams of mid-size companies.

Also Read: 2 childhood friends launch pH-balanced water brand with reusable glass bottles that speak the language of care

JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

Initially, Wildlife Whisperers had to navigate quite a few challenges.

First, the startup had no existing playbook to refer to. Sai Kiran and his team were building something entirely new and had to develop a risk appetite for trying out things without seeing their prior social proof.

Second, they knew that their primary customers would be organizations and companies that are genuinely invested in employee well-being and do not treat it as a casual off-site. So, they made efforts to handpick companies that were looking for something new and refreshing.

Third, and Sai Kiran calls it a funny challenge, was the fact that they were building something that was encouraging people to try a digital detox. This was a clear trend-breaking move that they were making, and it came with its own set of resistance.

But when they communicated their value proposition to companies, the response was positive.

"If an organization is looking for original content to find new ways for employees to learn, then we become the right partners for them,” startup founder Sai Kiran tells Startup Pedia.

Wildlife Whisperers offered to take corporate workshops beyond the boardroom, into beautiful jungles and nature. The startup also hired an extensively experienced learning and development team that would curate, design, and conduct these workshops and trainings for the companies. 

Sai Kiran kept moving ahead while drawing inspiration from this quote: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.”

Also Read: Cutting Airport Ride Costs by 50%, Bengaluru’s Shared-Cab Startup Clocks ₹1.2 Cr in First Year

WILDLIFE WHISPERERS: OF JUNGLES, MEETINGS, AND TEAM-BUILDING

Today, Wildlife Whisperers effectively brings the corporate world closer to the jungles.

The user journey is fairly simple:

1. The HR representative or well-being officer of a company can visit the Wildlife Whisperers’ website and check the list of programs and workshops offered.

2. They can then make an enquiry on the given email and phone number.

3. Next, the team of Wildlife Whisperers arranges a consultation call with the client and communicates the intent and focus of the workshop. A customized program is designed, and a suitable destination is chosen as per the client’s preference.

“The consultation call is very important because it is here where our team tries to figure out the problem statement of the company. It could be anything from a power imbalance in the team to employees not trusting each other. There’s a lot that we figure out and later unpack in our workshops,” entrepreneur Sai Kiran tells Startup Pedia.

4. Right from picking the jungle to designing the workshop template and schedule, everything is done in coordination with the CHRO or CEO of the company.

5. The Learning and Development team of Wildlife Whisperers then adds structure and substance to the workshop. 

6. Unlike conventional L&D material that is theoretical, these workshops thrive on practical experiences with a unique, natural theme. A naturalist and HR facilitator work together to deliver an exceptional experience, loaded with nature-inspired visuals that enable a sensory experience. The workshops are blended with jungle safaris, nature walks, and bonfire conversations.

“I cannot explain how therapeutic it is for employees and teams of enterprises to be seated in a jungle and understand the dynamics of team-building, power, and mindfulness. It not only serves as a corporate workshop but also something that acts as a beautiful getaway from the chaos of digital fatigue and exhaustion,” Sai Kiran says.

Currently, Wildlife Whisperers offers a host of workshops ranging from Elephant Whisperer (Leadership), The Jungle Book (Mindfulness), Wolf of Wall Street (Teamwork), The Lion King (Business Excellence), and Eye of the Tiger (Decision Making).

Each of these promotes energies of collaboration, trust, mental well-being, and resilience in the team members.

“I always say that nature is the greatest teacher and the forest is the best classroom,” entrepreneur Sai Kiran states.

Wildlife Whisperers curates and conducts these special experiences and workshops across 22 handpicked national parks in India. 

The immersive engagement and learning startup has expanded internationally to locations such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Africa.

“We have effectively solved the monotony problem of traditional corporate workshops,” Sai Kiran laughs.

Apart from corporate workshops, the startup has branched out to curate workshops for school students and help promote sustainable living and culture exchange.

“When school students visit indigenous tribes, they realize the minimalism that the forest life demands. This makes them grateful for what they have. They also learn to develop empathy for people who might seem different from them. This is the power of nature, it only knows harmony,” Sai Kiran shares with Startup Pedia.

Recently, Wildlife Whisperers also started their curated forest experiences for individual groups and families who are looking for slow, experiential travel in the jungles.

Also Read: This New-Age Logistics Startup Empowers Brands To Offer A Quick Commerce-like 60-Minute Delivery Experience; Grows By 300% Y-O-Y

GROWTH AND FUTURE

In the first year of operation itself (2023-2024), Wildlife Whisperers clocked an annual revenue of Rs 2.5 crore. This evidences the clear market need it addresses and the impact it continues to create.

The immersive engagement and learning startup has served companies like Perfetti Van Melle India, Pracitionet in Seattle, RH Process Consulting in the USA, and Siemens Digital. 

For the next year, the team is projecting a revenue of Rs 5 crore.

Looking ahead, Wildlife Whisperers seeks to scale its efforts in the direction of bringing people closer to jungles and helping them learn from the natural way of life.

“We want people to go all in when they go to a forest. We want them to notice the real colours of leaves and how dewy they feel when raindrops fall on them. We want them to notice animals and birds adopting a structure, even without the planner tools that we use. The forest is filled with stories of growth and resilience, and everyone should know them,” Sai Kiran Bhagavatula signs off.