India: MapmyIndia founders now worth $586 million following IPO debut

Way back in the 1990s, even before Internet had been introduced in India, a husband-and-wife team who had studied and worked in the US for a few years, returned home and started a new venture after trekking through several major cities and identifying locations and addresses.

Ten years before Google Maps had been launched globally, Rakesh and Rashmi Verma set up MapmyIndia.

Today, the low-key company has global tech giants, Internet technology majors, automotive companies, transport firms, government organisations and large businesses as clients.

The company also came out with an initial public offering earlier this month, which got oversubscribed by 150 times. And on Tuesday, the stock shot up on the bourses. On Wednesday, it was up by nearly seven per cent on the National Stock Exchange, quoting at Rs1,491.

Rakesh, 71, and Rashmi, 65, have a 54 per cent stake in the company, post the IPO. And their net worth shot up to $586 million on Tuesday.

“Our data modeling is our key IP and that’s what gives us a head start in this field," Rakesh told the media recently. “We’ve mapped 99.99 per cent of India, capturing every city, town, village and habitation."

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While Google Maps dominates the consumer segment in India now, with its free services to motorists, other travellers and the general public, MapmyIndia has sold its licences to top global corporates and domestic giants including IBM, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Ericsson, Qualcom, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Daimler AG, McDonald’s, Paytm and Ola. It also has a 95 per cent share of GPS navigation in India.

Demand for geographic data is zooming in India and government estimates are that it will touch nearly $15 billion by the end of the decade.

• India