ServiceNow takes $40m stake in AI banking firm BusinessNext
U.S. enterprise software giant ServiceNow has bought a 5% stake in Indian AI banking specialist BusinessNext for $40 million, a move that signals how legacy software vendors are scrambling to counter the threat of AI-native alternatives in the global financial sector.
ServiceNow has invested $40 million in BusinessNext, a Noida-based banking software company, valuing it at $700 million. The deal gives the U.S. workflow automation company a roughly 5% stake and a new partner to sell joint AI products to global financial institutions.
BusinessNext handles customer-facing banking workflows, while ServiceNow specializes in back-office systems, a combination the two plan to bundle and sell jointly. The deal gives BusinessNext access to ServiceNow’s global sales network, which founder and CEO Nishant Singh said would help it "borrow" its go-to-market "machinery" in markets where it lacks a footprint. “Think of it as a strategic partnership, which is cemented with funding,” he said.
Founded in 2002 and formerly known as CRMNext, the profitable company employs more than 1,300 people and generated $32 million in revenue last year. It serves more than 70 banks across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the U.S., including the Reserve Bank of India and major lenders State Bank of India and HDFC Bank. About half of its revenue already comes from outside India.
For European banks and investors, the transaction highlights a mounting pressure point in enterprise software. Established vendors like ServiceNow are facing growing scrutiny from financial institutions questioning whether traditional software-as-a-service tools justify their cost when AI-native competitors emerge. By aligning with an AI-first banking platform, ServiceNow is moving to defend its market share against that disruption.
BusinessNext has spent years building an "autonomous banking" platform that uses AI agents while keeping sensitive customer data on private infrastructure to satisfy privacy rules. “We actually renamed our company and we kind of rewrote our stack to put that fundamentally at the core,” Singh said.
The investment marks a sharp valuation increase for BusinessNext, which was worth $181 million in 2021 after raising just over $60 million from investors including Avataar Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. Kulmeet Bawa, ServiceNow’s managing director for India and SAARC, noted that “India’s financial services sector is at an inflection point — institutions are moving from digital experimentation to full-scale AI-led operations.” This transition from legacy systems to AI-led operations is a challenge European lenders are simultaneously navigating.
