Tech startup Icertis' valuation crosses $1 bn, joins unicorn club

Icertis raised $115 million in financing round co-led by Greycroft and Premji Invest, the family investment arm of Wipro Chairman and billionaire Azim Premji and existing investors

Icertis, which provides contract management software to customers like plane maker Airbus and pharma giant Merck, announced the closing of a $115 million Series E round. The financing round was co-led by Greycroft and Premji Invest, the family investment arm of Wipro Chairman and billionaire Azim Premji. Existing institutional investors including B Capital Group, Cross Creek, Eight Roads, Ignition Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and PSP Growth also participated in this round. Icertis would use the funding to scale up its operations globally and on acquisitions. It would also invest more in technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain.

The US-based company was founded by tech industry veterans Samir Bodas and Monish Darda in 2009. It has a major presence in Pune. With this funding, the firm has become a ‘unicorn,’ or a startup valued at more than $1 billion.

“As the CLM (contract lifecycle management) market takes off, we are thrilled to have Premji Invest join the Icertis family, Greycroft double down by co-leading this round, and all investors re-up their commitment as we execute on our mission to become the contract management platform of the world,” said Samir Bodas, chief executive and co-founder of Icertis.

The company has built an artificial intelligence-infused ‘Icertis Contract Management’ (ICM) platform. This has helped it win some of the most sophisticated enterprises across all major verticals, as well as 5 of the world’s top 10 most valuable companies, as its customers. The ICM platform helps customers worldwide manage over 5.7 million contracts with an aggregate value of more than $1 trillion.

“As we run a long-term evergreen crossover fund, we look for companies with enduring growth prospects that can execute and thrive well beyond an initial public offering,” said Sandesh Patnam, Lead Partner for Premji Invest in the US. “Icertis has all the hallmarks of a company that will grow into a juggernaut – an innovative product that delivers substantial value for customers, deep cash reserves to develop the market and a track record of flawless execution,” he added.

The CLM market is massive and growing rapidly – MGI Research estimates the total addressable market (TAM) over $20 billion, with SaaS CLM growing at a 31 per cent compound annual growth rate. “The growth in CLM adoption is fueled by digital transformation,” said Igor Stenmark, MGI Research Managing Director. “Companies are re-focusing technology investments away from traditional ERP (enterprise resource planning) and financial suites towards automating and digitally instrumenting key processes like contract management. Enterprise contract management providers like Icertis are well-positioned to ride this wave.”