Immersive Trails is a purpose driven company dedicated to making culture and heritage accessible using technology.

3. People are curious to explore new places and experience new cultures. Mainstream, mass tourism is
voyeuristic, reductive & exploitative. Although new age travelers are trying to break away from these
stereotypes and go off the beaten path, there are limited trusted, ethical, community focused curators
who can offer unique and wholesome experiences.
While this is a problem that existed long before the pandemic, it is now impossible to ignore. Tourism
is screaming for a fresh approach, and the tourism market in the post-pandemic world is ripe for new
technological and community-based innovations that empower travelers and locals alike.
There is, however, right now a huge gap between the market demand and supply.
The Problem

4. People with the problem above are those who are intellectually curious: innovators, lifelong learners,
and history and culture buffs.
These are the people who often travel to immerse themselves in new cultures and locations, who want
to soak up the atmosphere of a place.
They can be broadly categorized as follows
Target Market
Connected Super Users
Below 35 y/o
Interested in culture, love to
read and consume online
content, travel as much as
possible
Discerning Users
35 - 65 y/o
History and culture buffs,
innovators and early adopters,
discerning about where they
travel
Traditionals
50+
History and culture buffs,
primary mode of knowledge
is reading, have traveled
throughout their life

5. Market Size
dekko is directly seizing a market of
$254 billion in 2019
represented by tours, activities and attractions sector which is ripe for disruption owing
to the pandemic.
dekkho is indirectly tapping into the booming OTT market of
$438.5 billion by 2026
by catering a new media format.

6. Immersive Trails is building a virtual experiences environment (including an OTT
platform and app) that will utilize the skills of those in the tourism sector and create
sustainable employment by training them to develop both virtual and physical
experiences. Our Netflix of travel will revolutionize the way people plan, travel and
learn.
• It will offer enrichment and insight for travelers, and those who cannot physically
travel, by making them better informed, ethical and empathic as they discover
unique stories curated and told by local communities worldwide.
• Travellers can use the ethically curated immersive experiences on our platform to
discover unique stories from all corners of the world, and make responsible, informed
decisions when they plan to travel.
• The platform will also enable people who cannot travel, a currently untapped market,
by bringing them the world at their fingertips.
• It will create sustainable livelihoods for the locals, a responsible means to travel for
the travellers and a successful global business for Immersive Trails.
The Solution

7. • Ethical
Whether it is in how we conduct the research or represent
a community, ethical treatment of the subject matter is our
highest concern.
• Based on Research
To elevate the value of experience-based heritage and
cultural learning, we ensure all our experiences are rooted in
deep research.
• Accessible
Given that our experiences are virtual, they can be accessed
irrespective of physical boundaries.
• Inclusive
The experiences are designed for and by people from all
backgrounds.
Key Features

8. People who attended
virtual experiences
1827
Percentage of repeat
customers
30%
Number of Live
Virtual Experiences &
Workshops
141
Average sales per
month from July‘20
to June‘21
INR 40,000
Average month on
month growth from
July ’20 to June‘21
25%
Number of cities
reached via our
attendees
139
Immersive Trails during the Pandemic
We solidified our presence by pivoting from physical tours to virtual tours, launching the first virtual tour as early
as July 2020. We registered a US company, in addition to our Indian branch, to simplify transactions. We stretched
every form of innovation possible with a non-technical team, managing to turn profits for the most part.

9. 7.4 million
$14.2 mil
$10
Addressable users who
can watch at least one
experience
Average fee per
experience per
person
Revenue
Business Model
We charge 20% commission on each experience

10. Market Adoption

11. Fosters
Community
One time
consumption
Exploitative
(Entertainment based,
non-local)
Ethical (Research
based, local led)
Competition
Atlas Obscura
Sahapedia
AirBnB
Amazon
Experiences
Context Travel Virtual Experiences
Platform by Immersive
Trails

12. Go To Market
Phase 1
10-12 months
Build the platform and app and
launch the pilot in selected
Indian cities.
Phase 2
6-8 months
Expand the offerings of the
existing platform and app to
South Asian cities
Phase 3
TBD based on Phase 1 & 2
Begin developing the additional
features of the platform and
app to offer standalone training

13. • After bootstrapping for 4 years, Immersive Trails is looking
to raise equity-based seed capital of INR 1 crore (USD
150,000) and dilute 8-12% of the company to the investors
with an exit horizon of 5 years.
• The investment will be used to
• Hire an in-house team (CTO, 2 programmers, UI/UX
expert, graphic designer & copywriter) to design the
novel platform & app.
• Invest in proper internet connections, healthcare
benefits and periodic meetings (every 3 months), as
we plan to work remotely (initially based in India).
• Market the services and products of the platform &
app to build a sustainable user base.
Investment
Required

14. Immersive Trails is a purpose driven company dedicated to making culture
and heritage accessible using technology.

15. Founders
(since 2017)
Immersive Trails was born from co-founders Chelsea and Tathagata’s experiences
travelling the world in search of unconventional stories from local communities.
This interest grew out of their academic training in anthropology and archaeology
at two of the best institutions in the world. In 2017, the husband and wife duo left
the security of conventional academia to create Immersive Trails (then known as
Heritage Walk Calcutta) with a vision of bringing these unique stories to the world,
by curating immersive, research-based, community-focused and ethical cultural
experiences.

16. Co-Founder
(since 2022)
With a background of working in advertising and marketing for socio-cultural brands
and startups, Immersive Trails was a breath of fresh air for Surbhi. Surbhi was seeking
to be with a startup where her ethics would be a good fit, rather than a hindrance.
With a nearly perfect value match that translated to on-boarding as a co-founder,
she works on identifying opportunities for growth, creating strategic partnerships
and profiting sustainably to achieve our vision in the long-term.