India, March 18 -- Workforce management software maker Rippling has sued its competitor Deel for planting a spy and attempting to steal trade secrets, according to a lawsuit shared on its blog page. The US-based startup, co-founded by Indian-origin engineer Prasanna Sankar and American entrepreneur Parker Conrad, said the $12-billion unicorn implemented a months-long campaign to steal its confidential information with the help of a "corporate spy".

According to a lawsuit filed on Monday, March 17, in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, Deel cultivated a Rippling employee to perform thousands of suspicious searches and funnel stolen confidential business intelligence back to Deel. The company alleged that Deel's t...