US-based enterprise cloud provider ServiceNow yesterday created a corporate venturing arm named ServiceNow Ventures and launched a startup competition called CreatorCon Challenge.
The decision to set up ServiceNow Ventures follows a participation in two deals by the corporate last year – a $128m series D round for software developer Mulesoft in May and a $2m seed round Nuvolo Technologies, which develops applications on top of ServiceNow’s platform, in November.
The CreatorCon Challenge will invest a share of $500,000 in winning startups creating products on top of the ServiceNow platform. ServiceNow hopes the competition will help with a successful launch of its corporate venturing division.
ServiceNow Ventures will invest in early-stage startups and growth-stage businesses that are working on cloud-based applications built on top of ServiceNow’s platform. The unit will also partner companies on go-to-market initiatives.
Dominic Philips, vice-president of finance and corporate development at ServiceNow, said: “The ServiceNow platform is revolutionising the way work gets done in IT, security, customer service and human resources, as thousands of developers are building powerful applications and integrations that leverage machine automation and workflow.
“ServiceNow Ventures fuels innovative and disruptive technologies that grow and extend the ServiceNow ecosystem.”