ServiceNow bets $40 million on Indian banking software specialist to expand its financial services push

ServiceNow, the U.S. enterprise software company known for automating workflows like IT service management and HR operations, is betting on an Indian banking software specialist to deepen its push into global financial services.

The company has invested $40 million in BusinessNext, valuing the 24-year-old Indian firm at $700 million and taking a roughly 5% stake. The deal gives BusinessNext access to ServiceNow’s global sales network as the companies expand their partnership in AI for financial services.

ServiceNow’s investment reflects BusinessNext’s growing profile beyond India. The profitable, Noida-based company, which generated about $32 million in revenue in its latest financial year, serves more than 70 banks across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the U.S. Its customers include the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, and State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, which are India’s largest public- and private-sector lenders, respectively.

About half of BusinessNext’s revenue comes from outside India, with overseas markets 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 accelerate its expansion by tapping the U.S. software group’s global reach. Singh told TechCrunch that the partnership would help BusinessNext “borrow” its go-to-marker “machinery” — referring to ServiceNow’s sales infrastructure — in markets where it has a limited presence.

“Think of it as a strategic partnership, which is cemented with funding,” he said.

BusinessNext’s software, Singh said, manages customer-facing banking workflows, while ServiceNow is stronger in workflow automation and back-office systems, a combination the two companies plan to sell jointly to financial institutions.

“India’s financial services sector is at an inflection point — institutions are moving from digital experimentation to full-scale AI-led operations,” Kulmeet Bawa, ServiceNow’s group vice president and managing director for India and SAARC, said. 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 several years building what Singh calls an “autonomous banking” platform, using AI agents to automate banking workflows while keeping sensitive customer data on private AI infrastructure to meet regulatory and privacy requirements.

Singh told TechCrunch that AI was built into the company’s platform from the outset rather than added later. “We actually renamed our company and we kind of rewrote our stack to put that fundamentally at the core,” he said.

BusinessNext employs more than 1,300 people across its operations and was last valued at $181 million in 2021, per private market intelligence platform Tracxn. It has raised more than $60 million in external funding and counts Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Ascent Capital among its existing investors.

The deal comes as established enterprise software vendors face pressure from customers who are questioning whether traditional SaaS tools are worth paying for when AI-native alternatives are emerging. For ServiceNow, the deal builds out its position in banking by partnering with a company focused on AI-driven banking software, as it expands its enterprise software portfolio through acquisitions, investments, and partnerships.