About
Founder
CollarUp is an initiative of Chaitanya Gundluri, Chaitanya is an unorthodox serial entrepreneur who firmly believes that entrepreneurship is an adventure ride and only thrill-seekers can enjoy this race. Having launched 8 startups so far, his love for startups seems never-ending, he is instrumental in building several path-breaking businesses and turning Ideas into reality.
During his professional engagement, Chaitanya Gundluri was engaged in media, sponsorships, e-commerce, leasing, franchising, new product development/ commercialization, investments, consulting, sales, marketing, recruitment, training and growth hacking, he was the key driving force in establishing 220+ franchises and 45 businesses across India so far.
Apart from being a passionate entrepreneur, he loves hiking, adventures, living outdoors, tent life, photography, long drives and he’s been constantly doing these activities throughout his life. The traveller inside him is fond of wildlife/animals especially strays, he feels that’s where his heart is, this made him wear a Philanthropist hat and started two NGO’s “Planet Guardians” and “Collar Up” to protect stray dogs, cows, oxen and bulls, he’s been spending his major earnings towards safeguarding strays from vehicle crashes.
Inception
Being an avid adventurer Chaitanya hits roads almost every weekend, he love long drives and enjoys every moment of it, but one thing that bothers him so much in his journey is the dog and cow kills on highways, in a 10 hours round trip, he use to spot at least two animals lying breathless on roads crashed by speeding vehicles, there’s equal damage to vehicles and commuters. Chaitanya lost one of his best friends in a similar road accident and a couple of his close friends suffered injuries due to dog crashes, all these incidents had a strong impact in creating launching CollarUp through Planet Guardians Foundation.
Modus Operandi
CollarUp is a subsidiary initiative of Planet Guardians Foundation, We are a volunteer run, non-profit organization spread across 36 cities in India, we organize monthly Stray CollarUp drives across the cities through our volunteers, while most of the CollarUp drives are our own initiative, we occasionally attend to requests of other animal lovers in rescuing, feeding and sheltering stray dogs, cows and cats.
Impact
Reduced road accidents, stray crashes, vehicle damages and resulted in blood free highways, what adds more smiles is our collars are being hand stitched by marginalized rural women groups by which they are attaining financial independence by working from home. More Initiatives to follow.