According to a report, the digital map company MapmyIndia is preparing for an IPO, and the Apple Map data source is said to have a target valuation of approximately US$825 million. People familiar with the work said that the Delhi-based MapmyIndia company, formerly CE Information Systems, is in the final stage of preparing for an IPO. The IPO itself seeks to raise US$175 million, and if reached, its valuation will be around US$825 million.
According to the report, this map company is a rare company among Indian start-ups because it is a company whose profitability is already very obvious, which is very different from other major Indian start-ups seeking IPOs. Since the early 1990s, MapmyIndia has been a supplier of map data and technology to many large companies. It provides services to many major brands, including Uber, Mercedes-Benz, McDonald’s, Amazon and Apple’s Apple Maps.
Companies like MapmyIndia have an advantage over international companies because many map companies are not allowed to call high-precision satellite imagery and ground survey data in India, nor are they allowed to use street view vehicles to collect map data. So companies like Apple will turn to companies like MapmyIndia to get this data. Although Apple cannot collect India map data on its own, it opened an iOS development center in Hyderabad in 2016.
The main purpose of setting up these offices is to update the map and apply new functions to the map application.
