No credibility in MapmyIndia claims; sent legal notice but no reply: Ola founder

Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal has rejected claims of copying MapmyIndia, saying the map company was attempting to ride on Ola Electric's listing coattails. The Chairman and Managing Director of Ola brand owner ANI Technologies told PTI that the company has sent legal notice to MapmyIndia but hasn't received any reply from them.

"Empty vessels make more sound. These people woke up suddenly someday. Ola Electric is not even in the maps business. In the run-up to Ola electric IPO they just wanted to ride on its coattails. We have also given them legal notice, their reply has not come till date," Aggarwal said.

Ola Electric got listed on the bourses on August 9. The company raised ₹5,500 crore from its initial public offering.

MapmyIndia had sent them notice on July 23-- three days before the red-herring prospectus was filed by Ola Electric.

Homegrown digital navigation firm MapmyIndia has questioned claims of Ola parent ANI Technologies on developing a navigational map of India and called the announcement a "gimmick".

When contacted MapmyIndia to check the status of their legal notice, the company shared a transcript of its earning call dated August 12 in which its CEO and ED Rohan Verma shared an update on legal notice sent to ANI Technologies.

"In 2015, Ola ANI Technologies got licensed and got access to our map data, which they continued to use. In 2021, Ola Electric licensed our APIs (application programming interface) and SDKs (software development kits) for their navigation in their vehicles and continued to use us. Because we have seen certain breaches of terms and conditions, we have started the legal process," Verma said.

The company did not share an update on the legal notice sent to it by Ola.

Aggarwal said that he will ask MapmyIndia to substantiate its claim.

"Let's fight this. We are very clear. We have built our own mapping technology. We acquired a company. We have a lot of data on mapping because we've been running the ride-sharing business for so long. We have our own tech now. Our mapping is being used by so many customers. It might be hurting them, that is why they are making noise," he said.

As per Ola Electric IPO papers, ANI Technologies' subsidiary Geospoc Geospatial Services owns Ola Maps.

Aggarwal said many of MapmyIndia customers may be moving on to Ola Maps because it is a better product.

"So I would actually like you to ask them, " What's next? You made all this noise. Do you want to follow up on it or follow through on it? They won't do it because there's no credibility in their claims," he said.

MapmyIndia in the earning call has played down any threats on its map business from the entrant.

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