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Homegrown Mapping Company Shows Rapid Growth
Indigenously developed MapmyIndia is moving up the geospatial value chain post its Initial Public Offer. The company has moved beyond digital maps to IoT platforms and provides end-to-end software solutions to customers. By Jitendra Choubey
MapmyIndia (MMI), India’s indigenously developed navigation and mapping technology company, which competes with Google Maps, registered a stellar performance in its debut Initial Public Offering (IPO) in December 2021, creating a buzz in the competitive market. This happened at a time when many big players like Paytm had failed to live up to market expectations. Since then, the total market value of MMI has increased to over USD 1 billion (approximately Rs. 8,000 crores). It has made two acquisitions, inroads into drone technology, and partnered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to do quality 3D mapping.
Response to IPO
According to Rakesh Verma, founder of MMI, “We required funds to move up the value chain, so we chose to go for an IPO. We needed to accelerate ourselves as the sector started thriving due to the government’s liberalized geospatial policy.”
The public offering received an overwhelming response from bidders and was subscribed 155 times. It made a great debut at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which resulted in the net worth of its founders rising to Rs. 4,400 crores (USD
586 million). Financial experts have termed the performance of MMI as “stellar”.
MapmyIndia has always been an asset-light and profitable company,” said Nikhil Kumar,
Vice President, Geospatial Technology, MMI.
Services and products offered
Founded on February 17, 1995, MapmyIndia, officially known as CE Info Systems, offers three things — proprietary digital maps as a service (MaaS), software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS). The tech company provides services to top brands and partners with different government agencies. It has over 500 clients, including MercedesBenz, Maruti Suzuki and Bharti Airtel. It partners with government ministries and agencies, such as, ISRO and the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The company primarily provides services to corporate and government entities through its technological offerings such as the navigation app Mappls, GPS, IoT technology and gadgets.
The company offers professional maps and products directly to retail customers. The digital maps cover over 98% of India’s road network, constituting 62.9 lakh kms. The company has a niche club of investors, including PhonePe, Zenrin and Qualcomm.
“We have some prominent customers including PhonePe, Flipkart, Hyundai, Yulu, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, MG Motor and Safexpress,” said Kumar. He further added that MMI provides analytics, location and navigation to 7,933 towns, 637,422 villages, over 1.45 crore houses, and almost 1.8 crore restaurants, malls, ATMs, etc.
MMI is the market leader in the automotive map market. According to its Red Herring Prospectus (RHP), MMI controls around 90% of the domestic automotive map market.
The company has been registering strong profits for the past three years. For the financial year ending March 2022, it registered a profit after tax of Rs. 87 crores. For the preceding years, it was Rs. 60 crores and Rs. 23.2 cores.
Post-IPO developments
Verma termed the successful IPO as another successful milestone: “After this financial event, some interesting things happened, which are increasing our visibility in the geospatial value chain market.”
According to him, post-December 2021, MMI has strived to expand its presence and embark on the road to acquisitions, increasing its stake in different start-ups engaged in innovations.
“We acquired 75.98% stake in Delhi-based Gtropy Systems, a startup, in March 2022, valued at Rs. 13.5 crore,” said Verma. Gtropy is engaged in improving GPS vehicle tracking solutions and data analytics. MMI also acquired a 9.99% stake in another Delhi-based startup, Pupilmesh, which works in metaverse-based Augmented Reality solutions.
MMI has also made forays into drone technology software and partnered with ISRO for 3D mapping. With Earth Observation data from ISRO, MMI’s Mappls app can give consumers a realtime view of routes. Users will be able to see other information like air quality, vegetation maps and heat maps of their routes of interest as well.
MMI is also moving towards capturing the hyperlocal market. It will target prospective customers directly in a highly specific, geographically restricted area. This could be either a few streets or blocks, or educational institutes.
Global vision
In terms of plans for global acquisitions, Verma said: “Acquisition is a delicate thing. Our assessments show that 50% of the acquisitions do not materialize due to poor management practices. For the international market, we will take our mapping platform global.”
Verma cites the example of German automobile companies that have globally expanded, while serving domestic users: “One needs to create a strong base in the domestic market and then make the next move. For example, German car companies have grown and expanded globally while using local resources. Currently, our focus is on the Indian market and to create a strong base here. It is only after this that we will take our platform to the international market.”
