ServiceNow has invested $40 million in BusinessNext, an Indian banking software company, valuing the firm at $700 million and giving ServiceNow a roughly 5% stake. The deal is structured as a strategic partnership rather than a pure financial investment: BusinessNext gains access to ServiceNow’s global sales network, while ServiceNow deepens its presence in financial services by combining its enterprise workflow platform with BusinessNext’s banking-specific software.

BusinessNext, founded in 2002 and originally called CRMNext until 2022, serves over 70 banks across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the U.S. Its customers include the Reserve Bank of India, the State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank. The company generated about $32 million in revenue in its latest financial year, with roughly half coming from outside India. It employs more than 1,300 people and has raised over $60 million in external funding from investors such as Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Ascent Capital. Its previous valuation in 2021 was $181 million.

BusinessNext’s platform is built around what CEO Nishant Singh calls “autonomous banking.” The company uses AI agents to automate customer-facing banking workflows while keeping sensitive data on private AI infrastructure to meet regulatory and privacy requirements. Singh told TechCrunch that AI was built into the platform from the start, not bolted on later. The company renamed itself and rewrote its stack to put AI at the core.

ServiceNow’s investment reflects a broader trend of enterprise software vendors facing pressure from AI-native alternatives. For ServiceNow, the partnership with BusinessNext provides a ready-made banking software suite that can be sold jointly to financial institutions. Singh described the arrangement as a way to “borrow” ServiceNow’s go-to-market machinery in regions where BusinessNext has a limited presence. Kulmeet Bawa, ServiceNow’s group vice president for India and SAARC, said the partnership combines ServiceNow’s enterprise workflow platform with BusinessNext’s banking expertise, and noted that India’s financial services sector is moving from digital experimentation to full-scale AI-led operations.