IPO-bound India firm powering Apple Maps eyes overseas expansion

MapmyIndia, a digital mapping company which began an initial share sale on Thursday, plans to expand internationally as the company seizes on a niche field after winning businesses for Apple Inc.’s Maps and Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa in its home nation, according to its chief executive officer.
 

The company, formally named C.E. Info Systems Ltd., has integrated maps for over 200 countries into its software platform, Rohan Verma said in an interview on Bloomberg television. That can help original-equipment makers for next generation mobility vehicles, application developers, and businesses looking for geospatial data analytics, Verma said. 

India earlier this year relaxed centuries-old stringent controls over mapping and other geographic data, providing a boost for companies such as MapmyIndia, backed by Qualcomm Inc. and Walmart Inc.-owned payments startup PhonePe. Foreign mapping players in India are barred from using high-precision satellite imagery, collecting street-view data and conducting ground surveys to build up their maps, and are required to acquire such data from domestic providers.

“There is a huge headroom for growth in our sector and we are very, very excited about the market,” Verma, whose parents Rakesh and Rashmi Verma founded the company, said. “We are very hopeful that this entry into the public market will increase our profile.”

MapmyIndia raised 3.12 billion rupees ($41.3 million) from anchor investors including Fidelity, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley ahead of its initial public offering that aims to raise as much as 10.4 billion rupees. The anchor investors subscribed to shares at the top end of an indicative range set for the IPO, which will close for subscription Dec. 13.

MapmyIndia’s customers also include Mercedes-Benz and McDonald’s Corp. The company has built three-dimensional and four-dimensional high definition maps which will be useful for automated driving that is catching up in the West and the advanced East, Verma said. “We are future ready.”