Ulrico Grech-Cumbo
Ulrico is an entrepreneur, conservationist, immersive filmmaker, technologist, and public speaker. He has found the intersection of his passion for technology, nature, storytelling, and problem-solving, and used that to create impact for our planet. He is using immersive experiences – virtual reality, augmented reality, holograms, and installations – to help reconnect people to nature and uplift organizations that are fighting to save species and environments across the globe.
Ulrico Grech-Cumbo is focused on unconventional “blue ocean” entrepreneurship in the extended reality space, one of the most challenging and cutting-edge industries, leveraging disruptive ideas and technologies to create quantum shifts in impact for good on our planet. He is a true force, representing South Africa from Hollywood to the Himalayas.
Ulrico created Habitat XR to immerse people in nature digitally using extended reality (XR) technologies. He is compelled by our planet’s loss of biodiversity and the incredible power that technologies like virtual reality have to engender empathy. He has challenged convention, writing the rule book for virtual reality in conservation, when very few people around the world were doing it. He has utilized his mechanical engineering background to experiment in the space and build stereoscopic 360-degree cameras when no one in the world was manufacturing what they needed. He has pushed the boundaries of what is possible, placing world-first cameras in the midst of stampeding animal herds during The Great Migration in Kenya, and filmed snow leopards in VR in India, when people said it couldn’t be done. He thrives on the challenge, on mastering things that others never thought possible, and on doing it all for a greater purpose. He also possesses the extraordinarily rare quality of being a true visionary combined with the ability to actually implement his vision.
The world-class, proudly home-grown team that he has built at Habitat XR has produced work across the world, from the Himalayas to the depths of the ocean in Mozambique; from the savannahs in South Africa to the sub-Sahelian deserts of Chad. They have filmed animals in VR that seasoned professionals said could never be done. He has brought in and worked with incredible partners, including National Geographic Society, UNDP, SANParks, African Parks, Conservation International, WWF, Meta (Facebook), the Rwandan government and more. He has worked with Ellen DeGeneres through her conservation organization The Ellen Fund, and worked on projects narrated by Lupita Nyong’o and associated with Andy Serkis. Habitat XR’s work has won many awards including official selections at the Tribeca Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, SXSW, Jackson Wild, and Wildscreen, and accolades such as Fast Company’s Most Innovative Company in 2019. Ulrico was chosen as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2016.
But most importantly for him, his business has helped their partners achieve record-breaking fundraising results and change the face of community outreach and environmental communication.
He speaks on XR (extended reality), environmental education and conservation, and has given talks in 8 countries including at the United Nations, SXSW, Cannes, Tribeca, TEDx and more. He has guest-lectured at Vega, working to inspire the next generation of South Africans to use technology and video production for good.
He is truly an inspiration in his field, someone working diligently to make South Africa and this world better, and an obvious choice for Forty Under Forty South Africa.
Ulrico’s journey of entrepreneurship has certainly been the most challenging and exciting thing he’s done in his life. It has forced him to be both strategic and creative, to build teams, to learn how to fail, and to address personal blind spots. He has almost 2 decades of experience in starting and running businesses. He has founded or co-founded five companies to date, his first while studying mechanical engineering in the early 2000s.
Ulrico was always interested in pushing boundaries through technology, and began incorporating that into his work in experiential marketing in his twenties.
In 2014 he co-founded the largest virtual reality studio in the southern hemisphere. His desire to bring his passion of creative technology into his work was fulfilled through the VR studio, but as he traveled for commercial projects in so-called pristine wildernesses, he was shaken by the extent of degradation he witnessed. This coincided with a time when he started feeling a deeper need for the work to be purpose-driven, beyond using innovation to bring money in for brands. Realizing the power of immersive storytelling over the years, particularly on cultivating empathy, he founded Habitat XR, an impact-led immersive studio to join the fight for our natural world. Digital immersion in nature has been scientifically proven to bridge the cognitive disconnection that limits how much people care about environmental issues like climate change.
The Habitat XR team began a slate of self-funded wildlife experiences beginning with the Great Migration in Kenya. A documentary was made about this world-first project, and their intense challenges and achievements on the ground. Since then, Habitat XR has become a globally-operating studio, producing projects in 11 countries and counting, winning multiple awards and accolades including the prestigious title of Fast Company Magazine’s “Most Innovative Company” in 2019, and had their work shown at festivals like Tribeca, Cannes, Jackson Wild, EarthxFilm, SXSW and more.
Habitat XR not only survived the pandemic despite a total freeze on all contracts, but survived nearly 9 years in an industry that was deemed a “short-lived trend.” Ulrico has ensured that this happened through building a strategic and resilient business which leverages the technology for purpose and education, rather than simply flash and entertainment.
Ulrico is tremendously proud of the team he has built to date, many of whom did not start with the skills that they now possess. Each one is now a leader in their niche. The staff contingent has tripled year-on-year, and revenue has doubled year-on-year. Habitat XR is now looking to double YOY revenue again, while imminently launching an extremely ambitious, 4-year-in-the-making project to revolutionise zoos and aquariums around the world with state-of-the-art physical facilities.
Ulrico is so passionate about impact for conservation and community organizations that he has built the entire Habitat XR company to leverage the power of many to create the most impact possible. Their main focus for impact is using immersive experiences to facilitate fundraising for these organizations’ critical work. Ulrico has personally led every project that Habitat has produced and some of the highlights include:
– Working directly with The Ellen Fund (Ellen DeGeneres’ environmental organization) which raised $5 million USD in a single night for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s crucial work, using a VR experience watched by celebrities from Leonardo DiCaprio to Julia Roberts.
– Using their immersive experiences to break fundraising records for WWF (World Wildlife Fund) – using Habitat’s VR experiences for 2 gala events, they raised more money than they had in any fiscal year in 50 years of operation.
– Collaborating with Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, using funds raised for them as above for the Ellen Fund, to create permanent installations on their new campus (launched in 2022); these installations are providing incredible environmental education for everyone from Rwandan schoolchildren to visitors from across the world.
– Leveraging VR experiences to soar through fundraising records for both Conservation International and Wild Tomorrow Fund. Their VR fundraising ROI averages 12:1.
– Donating time and work for multiple organizations from the Marine Megafauna Foundation in Mozambique to Wild Tomorrow Fund in South Africa, capturing the work they’re doing to protect species from manta rays to rhinos.
– Working with the Zambezi Society in Zimbabwe to help create human-wildlife mitigation strategies using empathy-building VR.
Ulrico’s heart is truly aligned with his work. It is rare in this world that someone is able to pursue a passion, build a company, uplift people, and make an impact for nature. He understands that everything is interconnected on this planet, and that everyone has a part to play in making it better.
Ulrico’s persistence is notable – he refuses to give up, despite obstacles, despite “no”s, despite challenges, and where other people would simply walk away. And this is all in service of the greater good. A prime example of this is when he was inspired by the work of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda and determined to work with them, to help advance their mission of gorilla conservation in Africa. He tried many times to connect with people from the organization and was unable to reach anyone, despite his many attempts. No one ever replied. Resolved to engage with this incredible organization, he decided to knock directly on their door – their physical door. Ulrico was in Rwanda for a conference and made a side trip to the Dian Fossey campus, knowing no one, but resolute in his mission. Armed with a virtual reality headset, and confident in this medium of reaching people for the protection of nature, he asked to speak to the most senior person there at the time. That person had a few minutes to meet, and as often happens when people put on a VR headset, she was ecstatic at the possibilities of using this technology for conservation and education. When the organization couldn’t find the money to help film an experience with the gorillas, Ulrico persisted. A year later, he was in the jungles of Rwanda, filming gorillas for Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and The Ellen Fund, started by Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. Following that, he was invited to showcase the gorilla experience at Gorillapalooza, a fundraiser that brought in $5 million USD for conservation. He found himself, as an unassuming South African entrepreneur and conservationist, in the heart of Hollywood, mingling with the Hollywood elite, all in service of protecting this planet. It all started with a knock on the door.
Ulrico is an incredible leader. He has built a company that has purpose, and every person on his team has found fulfilment in their work. He has very unconventional hiring methods which have resulted in forming this specific team. He encourages his people to connect with the value that they are bringing to this planet, and it makes team members excited to come to work every day. He is bringing joy and excitement to the workplace, even taking his team to the bush every year, allowing people to experience nature firsthand, when some of them never had. He not only wants them to connect deeply to the work they are doing, he wants to create a fun and fulfilling environment.
Ulrico is also striving to give people opportunities that they may have never had otherwise. It’s incredibly important to him. An example of this is Joy, a 3D modeller on his team. Ulrico knows how important it is to have diversity in the team, and especially opening opportunities to people who have been historically disadvantaged in South Africa, which is rampant in the tech and specialised skills space. As we know, there is incredible talent in this country, and often people’s talent goes undiscovered because of gaps in education or opportunity. As Ulrico was looking for a 3D modeller, he found Joy’s impressive work online. But when Ulrico called him, Joy was working at a warehouse packing boxes; what he showed online were after-hours passion projects he had done on sub-standard hardware. When Ulrico asked why Joy had never worked professionally in 3D before, self-taught Joy said, “I’ve just never been given the opportunity to do my dream job.” Ulrico hired Joy over other candidates with much more industry experience. Now Joy is an integral part of the team, doing work that he loves, earning more, learning to love nature, and fulfilling a lifelong dream. That is the sort of purpose true leaders should be pursuing on behalf of South Africans.