Key facts
- ServiceNow invested $40 million in BusinessNext, a 24-year-old Indian banking software specialist.
- The investment values BusinessNext at $700 million and gives ServiceNow approximately a 5% stake.
- BusinessNext generated $32 million in revenue in its last financial year and serves over 70 banks globally.
- The partnership aims to leverage ServiceNow's global sales network to expand BusinessNext's reach in AI for financial services.
- BusinessNext's platform uses AI agents to automate banking workflows while keeping sensitive customer data on private infrastructure.
ServiceNow, a U.S. enterprise software company, has invested $40 million in BusinessNext, an Indian firm specializing in banking software, as part of its expansion into the global financial services sector. This strategic investment values BusinessNext at $700 million and grants ServiceNow approximately a 5% stake.
The partnership aims to leverage BusinessNext's AI-driven banking platform and ServiceNow's global sales network to accelerate the expansion of both companies' offerings in AI for financial services. BusinessNext, founded in 2002 and previously known as CRMNext, serves over 70 banks across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the U.S., including major institutions like the Reserve Bank of India, State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank.
Nishant Singh, founder and CEO of BusinessNext, stated that the company chose ServiceNow over other financial investors to expedite its global growth by tapping into ServiceNow's extensive sales infrastructure. The collaboration seeks to combine BusinessNext's customer-facing workflow automation with ServiceNow's back-office system strengths to jointly offer solutions to financial institutions.
Kulmeet Bawa, ServiceNow's group vice president and managing director for India and SAARC, highlighted that the partnership merges ServiceNow's enterprise workflow platform with BusinessNext's deep banking expertise, aligning with India's financial services sector's move towards AI-led operations. BusinessNext has developed an "autonomous banking" platform that integrates AI agents for workflow automation while maintaining data privacy on private infrastructure, a feature built into its core technology.
BusinessNext employs over 1,300 people and had previously raised more than $60 million in external funding, with investors including Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Ascent Capital. This investment comes as enterprise software vendors face increasing scrutiny over the value of traditional SaaS tools in the face of emerging AI-native alternatives.