EV3's Mapping Thesis

Sixty five years ago, Warren Buffett - when he was our age - bought shares in a small company called Sanborn Maps. It was one of his first investments out of the Buffett partnership.

Today, we’re publishing part 1 of our thesis on mapmakers, specifically Machine Maps.

In short, we believe:

• Agents will be the #1 consumers of maps, growing global map demand by a factor of 10x+.

• Mapmakers have powerful operating leverage at scale when they resell maps to multiple customers.

• Cameras are the most powerful tool in the mapmaking toolkit, protecting mapmaking businesses against the (very real) risks of technological disruption.

Over the past few years we’ve bet on machine maps like Auki, Raad, Meshmap, OVR, Natix, and WiFi Map. Maps are, in our view, one of the last layers in the AI supply chain that remains largely ignored and unloved by investors, despite it being fairly obvious that AI will drive a massive structural increase in map demand and consumption.

The full letter is available in PDF on our website: https://ev3.xyz/research/mapping.pdf

If you’re building a company or an exploring an idea for a mapmaking business, please reach out.