ServiceNow, an American enterprise software company known for automating workflows such as IT service management and HR operations, is investing in banking software experts in India to deepen its foray into global financial services.
The company has invested $40 million in BusinessNext, valuing the 24-year-old Indian company at $700 million and holding about a 5% stake. The deal gives BusinessNext access to ServiceNow’s global sales network as the two companies expand their partnership in AI for financial services.
ServiceNow’s investment reflects BusinessNext’s growing profile beyond India. The highly profitable Noida-based company, which generated revenue of about $32 million in the most recent financial year, serves more than 70 banks across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the United States. Its clients include Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, India’s largest public and private sector lenders.
About half of BusinessNext’s revenue comes from outside India, and overseas markets are expected to drive much of its future growth, founder and CEO Nishant Singh said in an interview.
The company chose ServiceNow over potential financial investors to leverage the U.S. software group’s global reach to accelerate expansion. Singh told TechCrunch that the partnership will help BusinessNext “borrow” GoToMarker’s “machines,” referring to ServiceNow’s sales infrastructure in markets where it has a limited presence.
“Think of this as a strategic partnership that is solidified with funding,” he said.
Singh said that while BusinessNext’s software manages customer-facing banking workflows, ServiceNow is more powerful in workflow automation and back-office systems, which the two companies plan to jointly sell to financial institutions.
“India’s financial services sector is at an inflection point. Institutions are transitioning from digital experiments to full-fledged AI-led operations,” said Kulmeet Bawa, Group Vice President and Managing Director, India and SAARC, ServiceNow. He added that the partnership combines ServiceNow’s enterprise workflow platform with BusinessNext’s banking expertise.
Founded in 2002, BusinessNext (known as CRMNext until 2022) has spent years building what Singh calls an “autonomous banking” platform. Use AI agents to automate banking workflows while keeping sensitive customer data in a private AI infrastructure to meet regulatory and privacy requirements.
Singh told TechCrunch that AI is built into the company’s platform from the beginning, rather than being added later. “We actually renamed the company and rewrote the stack to fundamentally put it at its core,” he said.
BusinessNext employs more than 1,300 people across its operations and was last valued at $181 million in 2021, according to private market intelligence platform Tracxn. It has raised more than $60 million in external funding, and existing investors include Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Ascent Capital.
The deal comes as traditional enterprise software providers face pressure from customers who are questioning whether traditional SaaS tools are worth paying for as AI-based alternatives emerge. For ServiceNow, this deal expands its enterprise software portfolio through acquisitions, investments and partnerships while building on its presence in banking by partnering with a company focused on AI-driven banking software.
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