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

ServiceNow, a US business software company known for automating workflows such as IT service management and HR operations, is betting on an Indian banking software specialist to deepen its push into global financial services.

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

ServiceNow’s investment reflects BusinessNext’s growing profile beyond India. The profitable company, based in Noida, which generated revenue of approximately $32 million in its most recent fiscal year, serves more than 70 banks across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the US. Its clients include the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, and the State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, India’s largest lenders and private sector companies respectively.

About half of BusinessNext’s revenue comes from outside India, and overseas markets are expected to drive its growth in the future, founder and CEO Nishant Singh said in an interview.

The company chose ServiceNow over potential investors to accelerate its expansion by tapping into the US software group’s global reach. Singh told TechCrunch that the partnership will help BusinessNext “lend” the branding “engine” — referring to ServiceNow’s sales infrastructure — to markets where it has limited presence.

“Think of it as a strategic, financially-reinforced partnership,” he said.

BusinessNext software, Singh said, manages the bank’s customer-facing workflow, while ServiceNow has strengths in workflow automation and back-office systems, a combination the two companies plan to jointly market to financial institutions.

“The financial services sector in India is at a crossroads – institutions are moving from digital audits to fully AI-led operations,” said Kulmeet Bawa, ServiceNow group vice president and managing director for India and SAARC. He added that the partnership combines ServiceNow’s business workflow platform with BusinessNext’s banking expertise.

Founded in 2002, BusinessNext – known as CRMNext until 2022 – has spent several years building what Singh calls a “private banking platform”, using AI agents to automate banking workflows while storing 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 start rather than added later. “We actually rebranded our company and rewrote our stack with that in mind,” he said.

BusinessNext employs more than 1,300 people across its operations and secured $181 million in revenue by 2021, with 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 business software vendors face pressure from customers who question whether traditional SaaS tools are worth paying for when traditional AI alternatives emerge. For ServiceNow, the deal builds on its position in banking by partnering with a company focused on AI-driven banking software, as it expands its business software portfolio through acquisitions, investments, and partnerships.