Maps.me (styled as MAPS.ME) is a mobile app for Android,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

and

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...

that provides offline maps using OpenStreetMap data. It was formerly known as MapsWithMe. In November 2014, it was acquired by

Mail.Ru Group VK, known as Mail.ru Group until 12 October 2021, is a Russian technology company. It started in 1998 as an e-mail service and went on to become a major corporate figure in the Runet, Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. VK operates an e-m ...

and became part of its My.com brand. In September 2015, the app was open sourced and a free and open-source software version was additionally made available on

F-droid F-Droid is an app store and software repository for Android, serving a similar function to the Google Play store. The main repository, hosted by the project, contains only free and open source apps. Applications can be browsed, downloaded and ...

until the application was sold to the payment processor Daegu Limited, part of Parity.com, which changed the application

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

and content, which led the

free software community The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedoms to run the software, to study the software, to modify the software, and to share copies of the s ...

to develop an ad- and tracker-free fork called '

Organic Maps Organic Maps is a free and open-source offline mobile map and navigation app for Android & iOS. It is based on top of crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data. The app is privacy-focused and has 0 trackers in it. It is a Fork (software development), fork ...

' in response.

History

First, the whole team has developed an application in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

and Switzerland. Maps.me was founded by Yury Melnichek, Alexander Borsuk, Viktor Govako and Siarhei Rachytski. Under the leadership of Alexander, MapsWithMe got its first 2.5M users worldwide. Yury Melnichek was leading the project from November 2013 until April 2016 when Evgeny Lisovskiy took over. In early 2017 the philosophy of the app changed, leading it to be supported by adverts. On Nov 2020 Mail.ru Group sold Maps.me to the payment processor Daegu Limited, part of Parity.com, which changed the application

and content, which led the free software community to develop Organic Maps in response.

MapsWithMe GmbH

The application was initially developed by Zurich-based MapsWithMe GmbH with a development office in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. In 2012, MapsWithMe came in first in the Startup Monthly competition in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. The team won a nine-week traineeship in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

as a prize.

Mail.ru Group

In November 2014, Maps.me was acquired by

for 542 million rubles (around US$14 million at that time) to be integrated with My.com, and the app was made free of charge. The engineering team was relocated to the Mail.Ru Group office in Moscow to continue working on the project. In 2019, its revenue amounted to 159 million rubles (US$2.5 million) with an EBITDA loss of 25 million rubles (US$0.39 million).

Daegu Ltd and partners

On November 2 2020, Daegu Limited bought Maps.me for 1.56 Billion Russian rubles (some US$20 million at 2020's exchange rate). Daegu Limited is announced to be part of Parity.com Group. Regarding the question, who is really responsible, there are two main groups involved. The first is Parity.com AG, which is part of Convexity Holdings AG from Switzerland. The second is the global TMF Group, a partner of Parity.com Group, which has a dependence office in Cyprus. Regarding the App Stores from Android and Apple, there is Maps.Me (Cyprus) Limited and Stolmo Limited. Regarding the policy of maps.me both fit to the responsibility to TMF Group in the same office in Nicosia. According to the search engines there is still no visible proof of what Daegu Limited is and if Parity.com AG is the same as Parity.com Group. In summary there are currently five companies involved: Daegu Ltd, Parity.com AG/Group, TMF Group, Stolmo Ltd, Maps.me (Cyprus) Ltd.

References

External links