Battery Ventures Merges Quartet of Mapping Software Startups
(Bloomberg) -- Tech investor Battery Ventures has combined four of its portfolio companies into a single business, in a bid to tap into the growing demand for the kind of industrial mapping software that helps UPS speed up parcel delivery and the WHO coordinate pandemic response efforts.
The new company, VertiGIS, will focus on geographic-information systems -- the market for which is estimated at about $3 billion in sales -- and house more 400 staff across six counties.
Battery intends to eventually spin off the new company to a strategic buyer, said Morad Elhafed, partner at the investment firm. He said he anticipated VertiGIS being capable of generating annual revenue of $200 million, up from about $60 million today.
All four companies build software services for government, utilities, as well as the oil and gas industry, using technology made by closely-held GIS market leader Esri, run by billionaires Jack and Laura Dangermond.
Esri develops mapping infrastructure that has helped United Parcel Service Inc. optimize delivery routes, and the World Health Organization respond to the West African Ebola outbreak. It's also been used to help oil companies decide where to drill.
VertiGIS will consist of AED-SICAD, based in Germany; Latitude Geographics, based in Canada; Dynamic Design Group, located mainly in Austria; and Geocom Group, based in Switzerland and Germany.
“VertiGIS started as a European thesis and will continue to be that way,” Elhafed said. “Europe has been early in adoption this software via smaller providers.”
Battery has made around 40 to 50 investments in Europe over the past decade.
To contact the reporter on this story: Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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