Ola Co-Founder Bhavish Aggarwal has denied allegations of copying from MapmyIndia, asserting that MapmyIndia is trying to take advantage of Ola Electric’s upcoming listing. Aggarwal, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Ola, mentioned that the company has sent a legal notice to MapmyIndia but has yet to receive a response.
“Empty vessels make the most noise. These individuals suddenly decided to make noise. Ola Electric isn’t even in the maps business. As Ola Electric approaches its IPO, they just want to ride on its coattails. We’ve also issued them a legal notice, but they haven’t responded to date,” Aggarwal said.
Ola Electric went public on August 9, raising Rs 5,500 crore through its initial public offering. MapmyIndia issued a notice to Ola Electric on July 23, just three days before Ola Electric submitted its red-herring prospectus.
MapmyIndia, a local digital navigation firm, has criticized Ola parent ANI Technologies’ claims of creating a navigation map of India, dismissing it as a “gimmick.” When asked about the legal notice, MapmyIndia referred to a transcript from its August 12 earnings call, where CEO Rohan Verma provided an update on the notice sent to ANI Technologies.
“In 2015, Ola ANI Technologies licensed our map data and continued to use it. In 2021, Ola Electric also licensed our APIs (application programming interfaces) and SDKs (software development kits) for navigation in their vehicles and maintained that usage. Due to certain breaches of our terms and conditions, we have initiated legal action,” Verma said.
The company has not provided any updates on the legal notice it received from Ola. Aggarwal stated that he plans to ask MapmyIndia to present evidence supporting its claims.
“Let’s settle this in a legal battle. We are confident in our position. We have developed our own mapping technology. We even acquired a company for this purpose. With extensive data from our long-standing ride-sharing business, we now have our own technology. Our mapping is being widely used by customers, which may be why they feel threatened and are making noise,” he said.
According to Ola Electric’s IPO documents, Ola Maps is owned by Geospoc Geospatial Services, a subsidiary of ANI Technologies. Aggarwal hinted that MapmyIndia customers may be moving to Ola Maps due to its superior product.
“So, I encourage you to ask them, ‘What’s next? You’ve made all this noise. Do you plan to follow up or take action? They won’t do it because their claims lack credibility,'” he said.
During its earnings call, MapmyIndia minimized concerns about competition from the new entrant.