ServiceNow Ventures Research
Overview
ServiceNow Ventures is the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading AI platform company for enterprise workflow automation. Launched in 2015 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, ServiceNow Ventures invests in AI-first startups that can extend, integrate with, or amplify the ServiceNow platform. The firm operates as a strategic CVC, not an independent fund, with its investment capital drawn from ServiceNow's corporate balance sheet.
ServiceNow committed $1 billion in investment capital to ServiceNow Ventures by 2026 — announced at Knowledge 2023 — reflecting a significant deepening of its conviction in corporate venture as a strategic growth lever. By mid-2023, it had already deployed approximately $300 million across ~45 portfolio companies since inception, and by 2026 the portfolio had grown to 60+ companies.
Investment Thesis
ServiceNow Ventures invests broadly across emerging technologies to accelerate the potential of AI for enterprise transformation. The core mandate: find and back visionary founders building companies that make the world work better — especially those that can extend or integrate with the ServiceNow AI Platform, or that represent horizon-expanding bets on how enterprise software will evolve.
Core investment areas include:
- AI and machine learning operations and infrastructure
- LLM tooling and agentic AI
- Hyper-automation and workflow AI
- Distributed cloud and cloud-native infrastructure
- Data intelligence and analytics
- Enterprise security and governance
- Total experience (employee + customer experience convergence)
The firm explicitly seeks companies at the intersection of AI and enterprise software — founders building the plumbing that powers next-generation enterprise operations.
Three Investment Tracks
ServiceNow Ventures operates three distinct investment tracks:
Technology (Direct Minority Investments) — The primary track. Direct minority stakes in emerging companies with innovative technologies that add value across ServiceNow's platform, workflows, and end markets. These investments also provide ServiceNow over-the-horizon visibility into market trends and emerging players. Examples: Deepgram, LangChain, OpenRouter, Sigma Computing, Hyro, TrustCloud, Island.
Ecosystem Ventures (Go-To-Market Partners) — Strategic balance sheet investments to grow talent capacity and accelerate business objectives with implementation and services partners that drive adoption of the Now Platform globally. First European example: Plat4mation (Feb 2024).
Funds (LP Investments) — Indirect fund investments in operator-led venture funds offering deep domain expertise. Example: Smith Point Capital, LLC, an operator-led enterprise software fund founded by ServiceNow-alum Keith Block.
Stage and Check Size
As a strategic CVC, ServiceNow Ventures invests across a wide range of stages. Most direct technology investments are at Series B through growth stage, though the firm has also backed seed-stage companies (Novaworks, $8M seed, March 2026) and made enormous strategic bets at the growth stage (Genesys, up to $750M strategic investment, July 2025).
Typical direct tech investment check sizes range from approximately $5 million to $50 million, though the firm has demonstrated willingness to write much larger checks for strategic ecosystem relationships. The $750M Genesys investment represents a transformational, partnership-driven bet that goes beyond typical minority CVC investing.
Recent Activity
ServiceNow Ventures has been highly active in 2024–2026, with a consistent focus on AI-first enterprise companies:
- Pinkfish AI — June 2026 (Business/Productivity Software)
- OpenRouter — May 2026, Series B, $113M, $1.3B valuation (AI model routing infrastructure)
- Sigma Computing — May 2026, Series E, $80M, $3B valuation (agentic analytics)
- Novaworks — March 2026, Seed, $8M (AI-native workforce management)
- Deepgram — January 2026, Series C, nine-figure round (AI voice/audio intelligence)
- LangChain — November 2025, nine-figure round (LLM orchestration and agentic AI)
- Celero Communications — November 2025 (AI infrastructure)
- Hyro — October 2025, Strategic Growth Round (conversational AI for enterprises)
- Thinking Machines — July 2025, $2B seed round (foundational AI)
- Genesys — July 2025, up to $750M strategic investment alongside Salesforce (AI-powered customer experience)
- Island — December 2024 (Series D) and July 2025 (Series E) (Enterprise Browser)
- TrustCloud — May 2025, $15M strategic funding led by ServiceNow Ventures (AI-native GRC/security)
- Motif — January 2025, $46M (AEC industry software)
- Neuron7 — AI for field service resolution
Portfolio Highlights
Historical portfolio includes some landmark enterprise software companies:
- Moveworks — AI-powered IT service automation; acquired by ServiceNow for $3 billion in March 2025, representing a major exit and validation of the CVC's thesis.
- Celonis — Category-defining process mining and execution management; one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies.
- HackerOne — Leading vulnerability coordination and bug bounty platform.
The acquisition of Moveworks is particularly noteworthy: it demonstrates ServiceNow's willingness to graduate portfolio companies into acquisitions, aligning the CVC's financial returns with strategic product expansion.
Team
ServiceNow Ventures operates with a lean investment team embedded within ServiceNow's Corporate Development function. As of mid-2026, the team experienced significant transitions following the departures of SVP Philip Kirk (April 2026) and VP Vishal Kumar Gupta (~October 2025).
Current and recently active team members include:
- Amanda Vinson — Senior Director, Corporate Business Development & Venture Investing. Vinson is the most senior confirmed active investment professional as of April 2026, with responsibility across M&A, venture investing, and strategic partnerships.
- Vaibhav Narayanam — Senior Director, Corporate Development & Venture Investments. Focuses on enterprise software, AI/ML, data, distributed cloud, and automation software investments.
- Victor Chang — former VP, Ventures at ServiceNow (joined July 2023 from Databricks; departed approximately June 2026). MIT graduate with prior experience at Databricks and Tableau.
- Gina Mastantuono — President & CFO of ServiceNow, who serves as the executive sponsor and champion of ServiceNow Ventures.
Strategic Value Proposition
ServiceNow Ventures differentiates from independent VCs by offering portfolio companies:
- Network access — ServiceNow's global community of enterprise customers, ecosystem partners, and event sponsors who are reinventing enterprise software.
- Product and engineering expertise — Direct access to ServiceNow's industry-leading product and engineering teams to validate use cases and scale into the enterprise.
- Brand and GTM leverage — Leverage ServiceNow's global brand and enterprise reach to accelerate go-to-market strategy.
- Strategic partnership potential — Path to deep integrations with the ServiceNow AI Platform, joint go-to-market, and in some cases acquisition.
Geographic Focus
Primarily invests in US companies, with growing international presence via its Ecosystem Ventures track. Notable international investments include Plat4mation (Netherlands) and companies with R&D in Israel (Island). The fund has global reach given ServiceNow's global enterprise customer base.
Decision Process
As a CVC, investment decisions are made through ServiceNow's corporate governance structure, involving Corporate Development leadership and sign-off from executive leadership (including the CFO). Deal sourcing is proactive and thematic — the team identifies sectors and trends aligned with ServiceNow's platform roadmap, then seeks best-in-class companies.
There is no cold-pitch process; most investments are sourced through ServiceNow's ecosystem of partners, co-investors, and customer relationships. A warm introduction through a ServiceNow partner, customer, or known investor significantly improves access.