SoftBank Group funding turns India start-up Mindtickle into unicorn

India’s Mindtickle Inc. hit a valuation of $1.2 billion with a funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp., as global investors plow capital into the country’s fast-growing technology industry.

Existing backers including Norwest Venture Partners and Qualcomm Ventures participated in the $100 million round that has more than doubled Mindtickle’s valuation. The latest funding takes the total capital raised to $281 million, including a $100 million round last November that was also led by SoftBank, the company said in a statement Thursday.

The startup, based in Pune in western India and San Francisco, provides what it calls sales readiness technology: artificial intelligence-based sales tools to improve selling, product knowledge and awareness of the competition.