ServiceNow acquires Armis for $7.75 billion to build AI-powered cybersecurity shield

ServiceNow to buy cybersecurity startup Armis for $7.75 billion

Dec 23 (Reuters) - ServiceNow (NOW.N), opens new tab has agreed to buy cybersecurity startup Armis for $7.75 billion in cash, the companies said on Tuesday, as the enterprise software maker looks to attract new customers amid growing risks of cyberattacks. The company is aiming to integrate Armis' security features such as device scanning, threat detection and vulnerability prioritization to its AI-powered platform, a crucial advantage amid increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks that have hit companies ranging from Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab to UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N), opens new tab. Santa Clara, California-based ServiceNow's shares fell about 2% in premarket trading. ServiceNow shares slumped nearly 12% on December 15 after Bloomberg News reported about the potential Armis deal over the weekend. The selloff wiped off around $20 billion from the company's market value, a sign that investors scrutinized hefty spending goals of smaller cloud players. In recent months, ServiceNow has splurged on buying security firm Veza, AI company Moveworks and sales automation platform Logik.ai, formerly Logik.io, to expand its customer relationship management footprint and accelerate sales, order management, AI and security capabilities. Armis, valued at $6.1  billion in a funding round in November, was preparing for an initial public offering. The startup's latest financing was led by the alternative investment platform of Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab. Existing investor CapitalG, Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab VC arm, also participated in the round. Armis, founded in 2015, unveiled a three-year plan last month to reach $1 billion in annual recurring revenue after crossing the $300 million milestone in August. ServiceNow closed its $2.85 billion acquisition of Moveworks this month. It spent $506 million on Logik.ai, while financial details for Veza buyout were undisclosed. Its deal with Armis is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Reporting by Kritika Lamba and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shilpi Majumdar Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

ServiceNow's $7.75 billion Armis acquisition - betting that security and trust, not just capability, will determine who wins enterprise AI

Some of us may be in the throes of Christmas celebrations, but the AI enterprise market slows for no-one it seems. ServiceNow today announced its intention to acquire Armis, a leader in cyber exposure management and cyber-physical security, for $7.75 billion in cash. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2026, brings together ServiceNow's workflow automation platform with Armis' real-time visibility and risk prioritization across IT, operational technology (OT), medical devices, and industrial environments. Together, the companies aim to create what they're calling "a unified, end-to-end security exposure and operations stack that can see, decide, and act across the entire technology footprint." At $7.75 billion, this is ServiceNow's largest deal by a considerable margin. And a deal of this size signals how the vendor is seeing the enterprise AI market playing out: capability without trust is useless. And trust requires comprehensive security visibility that extends far beyond traditional IT estates into cyber-physical systems that most organizations struggle to even map properly. It's also worth noting that this is ServiceNow's seventh major acquisition in 2025, following deals for Veza (identity security), Moveworks ($2.85 billion for AI-powered enterprise search), and others. For a company that built its reputation on organic growth and "one platform, one architecture, one data model," seven acquisitions in a single year is a notable shift. But as I wrote following CEO Bill McDermott's comments at Knowledge 2025 in May, when he declared that "CEOs are now demanding software losers," ServiceNow is making a clear play for dominance in enterprise AI - and that clearly requires moving faster than internal development timelines allow. The Armis acquisition takes on a challenge I've been seeing in conversations with technology leaders over the past year: enterprises want AI capabilities but are extremely cautious about the security and risk exposure that AI adoption introduces. As I wrote following my coverage of ServiceNow's Veza acquisition earlier this month, identity governance has become a real bottleneck preventing organizations from deploying AI agents at scale. Without visibility into what systems and data AI agents can access, deployment becomes a security risk that most CISOs won't approve. You're often one deployment away from your name appearing in headlines. While Veza addressed identity and access governance, Armis provides real-time discovery and risk prioritization across managed and unmanaged assets - including OT, IoT, medical, and industrial devices that traditional security tools often miss. This is important because AI agents won't just be operating in pure software environments; they'll be triggering actions that affect physical systems, from manufacturing lines to medical equipment to critical infrastructure. According to the press release, worldwide end-user spending on information security is projected to increase 12.5% in 2026 to $240 billion, with AI adoption being a key growth driver. But this spending isn't just about enabling AI - it's about managing the expanded attack surface and vulnerability exposure that AI creates. Amit Zavery, ServiceNow's president, COO, and chief product officer, said: In the agentic AI era, intelligent trust and governance that span any cloud, any asset, any AI system, and any device are non-negotiable if companies want to scale AI for the long-term. Speak to any CIO and you will quickly understand that the problem is that many organizations don't even know what devices are on their networks, particularly in operational technology environments. Armis' agentless discovery capabilities aim to address this by continuously identifying and classifying assets that traditional tools miss. Without this visibility, any conversation about AI governance is theoretical. ServiceNow has been deliberate about shifting its positioning from "AI platform" to "AI control tower" - a language shift I noted in my Veza coverage, which signals the vendor's ambitions to not just enable AI deployments but to determine which AI systems get to operate across the enterprise. By combining Armis' agentless discovery and classification of assets with ServiceNow's business-context CMDB and AI Platform, ServiceNow is attempting to build what it describes as "a complete, actionable understanding of cyber exposures and resolution workflows." The companies also have partnership history. ServiceNow and Armis already offer multiple integrations, connecting Armis' data and insights to ServiceNow's workflow action. Armis provides the continuously updated map of the enterprise environment, while ServiceNow maps those assets to the services, processes, and teams they support. When paired with ServiceNow's AI Control Tower, the aim is to create end-to-end visibility from discovery through to automated remediation. For ServiceNow, this extends its security offering into industries where AI adoption has been slower precisely because security concerns around physical systems have been harder to address - such as manufacturing, government and healthcare. The Armis acquisition needs to be understood alongside ServiceNow's other recent deals. As I noted above, Veza brought identity security and access governance. Moveworks added AI-powered enterprise search and 500 AI specialists. Now Armis adds cyber exposure management. These acquisitions collectively address the same challenge for ServiceNow: what technical capabilities must the vendor own to credibly claim it can serve as the AI control tower that governs enterprise AI deployments? Identity governance (Veza) ensures you know who and what can access systems. Enterprise search and employee experience (Moveworks) provides the engagement layer where users interact with AI. Cyber exposure management (Armis) gives real-time visibility into vulnerabilities and risk across the full attack surface. From where I'm sitting, ServiceNow is trying to systematically answer the question: "Why wouldn't you choose ServiceNow?" for enterprise AI management. Can't secure OT environments? Armis can help with that. Worried about identity governance? Veza can handle it. Need employees to actually use the system? Moveworks provides an interface. Each acquisition plugs a gap that might otherwise give buyers reason to look elsewhere. ServiceNow wants to be the one stop shop for enterprise AI management. The Armis acquisition is interesting and supports McDermott's "checkmate" ambitions from Knowledge 2025. If ServiceNow wants to be the AI control tower that determines which applications survive in an agentic future, it needs comprehensive security visibility across the full attack surface - and Armis claims to provide that, particularly for cyber-physical systems that traditional security tools miss. However, it's worth stating that integrating seven major acquisitions in one year while maintaining platform coherence is no small challenge. ServiceNow's competitive advantage has always been "one platform, one architecture, one data model" - the opposite of competitors who assembled portfolios through acquisition and created integration nightmares. ServiceNow won't want to lose that credibility and incorporating these companies in a 'seamless' way will be important for customer support. It's that integration complexity undermines the unified platform promise that differentiates ServiceNow. If buyers start experiencing the fragmented workflows and data silos that ServiceNow claims to eliminate, the control tower narrative falls apart. On that point, time will tell. But ServiceNow understands something important about the market at the moment: the AI governance and orchestration layer will likely consolidate around one or two platforms, and whoever captures that layer early will be very difficult to displace. Organizations that standardize on ServiceNow for identity governance, AI search, cyber exposure management, and workflow automation won't easily switch once those capabilities become embedded in daily operations. Organizational muscle memory and integrated workflows are powerful mechanisms for keeping buyers on board. For buyers, this deal signals ServiceNow is serious about becoming the platform that governs AI deployments across the enterprise. The next eighteen months will show whether ServiceNow's acquisition spree delivers on McDermott's checkmate ambitions or just provokes fiercer responses from Microsoft, Salesforce, and others who aren't going to hand over enterprise AI orchestration without a fight. Right, now I'm ACTUALLY logging off. Merry Christmas.

ServiceNow's Amit Zavery: Armis, Veza Acquisitions Aim To Strengthen Platform Cybersecurity Posture

ServiceNow agreed to acquire cyber exposure management vendor Armis for $7.75 billion in an all-cash deal, strengthening its AI-native security workflow platform and adding real-time asset visibility and risk prioritization as ServiceNow expands its end-to-end cybersecurity and governance strategy, says ServiceNow President, COO and Chief Product Officer Amit Zavery. ServiceNow is making one of its biggest security bets to date with its move to acquire cyber exposure management vendor Armis for $7.75 billion in an all-cash transaction. The deal, slated to close in mid-2026, aims to significantly expand ServiceNow's push to build an AI-native, end-to-end security platform that spans IT, OT, cloud, and connected devices. The acquisition, unveiled Tuesday, aims to strengthen ServiceNow's security workflow portfolio by tightly integrating Armis' real-time asset discovery, threat intelligence and risk prioritization capabilities with ServiceNow's automation, remediation and response workflows, said ServiceNow President, COO and Chief Product Officer Amit Zavery. [Related: ServiceNow's CFO On The AI 'Revolution,' Government Shutdown Impact And Salesforce Competition] ServiceNow's core business continues to grow, and it has delivered 20-plus percent revenue growth every fiscal quarter of the last decade, Zavery told CRN. On top of that is the opportunity ServiceNow sees with AI and security, he said. "AI is creating a lot of customer concern around security," he said. "How do you protect the environment? How do you protect things which are machine-oriented or which are agent-driven? And how do you take on AI in a secure manner? That is the thinking we've been having with many of our customer discussions. Our security business crossed a billion dollars last quarter. It has been growing very fast because of the concerns customers have around managing incidents and protecting themselves proactively." ServiceNow has a vision around the idea of autonomous cybersecurity, with ServiceNow AI Control Tower to provide discovery, visibility, management, and associated auditing and risk compliance, Zavery said. "If you look at the opportunity with Armis, they really create this ability for us to do this exposure management," he said. "We already been integrated with Armis via a lot of joint customers. The space they are in complements very much where we are seeing a lot of demand with the rest of our ServiceNow portfolio, and specifically the security portfolio." Exposure management is basically any kind of vulnerability in an environment, Zavery said. "How do you understand a vulnerability and what is the exposure to you so that you can manage it from the security posture, remediation, and threat detection, and then take care of it so that all the exposures from any kind of threats are completely contained and you have full visibility and control over it," he said. "It's a pretty broad set of capabilities required to do this holistically and together with the ecosystem by working with a lot of third parties. Providing a full end-to-end solution is really where Armis is a prize. They are a leader in the Magic Quadrant from Gartner. And they are an extension to what we do with our CMDB (Configuration Management Database)." With the capabilities that Armis brings, ServiceNow will see a significant boost in its business, Zavery said. "With the combination of Armis with exposure management, managing all the different devices be it IT or OT, as well as agents and the security postures around that, we can collect all the data, proactively monitor everything, proactively remediate issues, and integrate that into our workflow," he said. "We now will have a full end-to-end solution which triples our security camp, increasing it from $30 billion to $100 billion, which gives us another growth trajectory and a vector in a space which is changing drastically." A lot of that has traditionally been done in a fragmented way with multiple vendors, Zavery said. "We're bringing those pieces together into a platform perspective, just like we've done with other things at ServiceNow," he said. "We're bringing that data, that unique understanding of all the different devices and OT operational elements and the agent part, and then combining that with ServiceNow. We believe it's a game changer and a great opportunity for ServiceNow and a great value for our customers, because they really need the solutions today." ServiceNow plans to fund the transaction using a mix of cash on hand and debt. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Once finalized, Armis' approximately 950 employees will join ServiceNow. Integration should be fast, Zavery said. "We already integrate with Armis," he said. "We have a lot of joint customers. We will, of course, make it even more seamless. There are also a lot of areas where we believe we can extend that capability and provide even more solutions which Armis has been building out and we've been building out. We can jointly speed up our roadmaps as well." The timing of the acquisition is notable. Armis announced just last month that it had raised $435 million in new funding at a $6.1 billion valuation, while continuing to prepare for a long-anticipated IPO. Armis executives have publicly discussed IPO readiness for several years, and the company has shown strong financial momentum. Armis recently surpassed $300 million in annual recurring revenue, representing more than 50 percent year-over-year growth, and said it is on a path toward $1 billion in ARR. Founded in 2016 and based in San Francisco, Armis has been one of the most heavily funded cybersecurity vendors in recent years, raising more than $1.06 billion across four funding rounds since early 2021. Its most recent funding round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The vendor has focused on delivering deep visibility into IT, OT and unmanaged devices, a growing concern as enterprises contend with expanding attack surfaces. ServiceNow, meanwhile, has steadily expanded its security portfolio through both product development and acquisitions. Earlier this month, the company disclosed plans to acquire identity security startup Veza in a deal reportedly valued at least $1 billion. Zavery declined to comment on the acquisition cost around Veza, other than to say it was a much smaller transaction than with Armis. Veza is the market leader for incident management, remediation, and triaging, usually post-breach, he said. "What we expect to do with Veza is to really get awareness of identity associated with any kind of non-humans as well as humans in terms of what kind of access they have," he said. "Veza has something called Access Graph which keeps track of every access on any kind of systems, looking at whether things people are trying to access are allowed or not, especially around AI agents. Millions of AI agents are running around without any kind of control. You can end up with security issues. Veza protects you from those assets by providing the right privileges, revoking privileges, maintaining and managing them, auditing all those privilege issues, and providing full insight so that your governance around human and non-human identities can be managed properly." Veza provides identity governance, while Armis provides exposure management, Zavery said. "This is a full end-to-end play on the cybersecurity space, and allows us to expand our platform capabilities to meet some of these newer emerging requirements," he said.

ServiceNow Moves Into AI-Powered Cybersecurity With $7.75 Billion Acquisition - ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) shares traded lower on Tuesday. The company disclosed an acquisition of Armis in an all-cash deal of $7.75 billion. As per the agreement, ServiceNow will acquire Armis for about $7.75 billion in cash, funded through cash on hand and debt. The deal, pending regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second half of 2026, with Armis' team joining ServiceNow. As of September 30, ServiceNow had cash and cash equivalents of $2.73 billion. Merger Benefits Armis is known for cyber exposure and cyber-physical security. Armis protects IT, operational technology, medical devices, and other critical environments for enterprises, governments, and infrastructure worldwide. The acquisition will strengthen ServiceNow's security workflow capabilities, enabling AI-native, proactive cybersecurity and automated vulnerability response across all connected devices. Combined, ServiceNow and Armis will deliver an end-to-end security operations stack that integrates real-time asset discovery, threat intelligence, risk prioritization, and automated remediation across the entire technology ecosystem. Notably, security remains the top priority for CEOs amid rising AI adoption, with global spending on information security projected to reach $240 billion in 2026, up 12.5%. The Armis acquisition will boost ServiceNow's Security, Risk, and OT portfolios, enhancing trust in connected environments and driving AI adoption. With ServiceNow's Security and Risk business surpassing $1 billion ACV in the third quarter of 2025, this move is expected to more than triple its security market opportunity and accelerate autonomous, proactive cybersecurity capabilities. Management Commentary Amit Zavery, president, chief operating officer, and chief product officer at ServiceNow, added, "In the agentic AI era, intelligent trust and governance that span any cloud, any asset, any AI system, and any device are non-negotiable if companies want to scale AI for the long-term. Together with Armis, we will deliver an industry-defining strategic cybersecurity shield for real-time, end-to-end proactive protection across all technology estates. Modern cyber risk doesn't stay neatly confined to a single silo, and with security built into the ServiceNow AI Platform, neither will we." Price Action: NOW shares are down 2.59% at $152.62 at the last check on Tuesday. Read Next: TikTok Parent ByteDance To Invest $23 Billion In AI To Compete With US Tech Giants: Report Photo by JHVEPhoto via Shutterstock NOWServiceNow Inc$153.01-2.34%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

ServiceNow to Acquire Armis to Create Cybersecurity Solution for AI Era | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The stack will cover all connected devices and help protect the expanded attack surface created by the adoption of artificial intelligence, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 23) press release. The planned acquisition will add Armis' cyber risk management solutions and ServiceNow's AI platform that orchestrates workflows across enterprises. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions, the release said. ServiceNow expects the acquisition to more than triple its market opportunity for security and risk solutions, per the release. "In the agentic AI era, intelligent trust and governance that span any cloud, any asset, any AI system and any device are non-negotiable if companies want to scale AI for the long term," Amit Zavery, president, chief operating officer and chief product officer at ServiceNow, said in the release. "Together with Armis, we will deliver an industry-defining strategic cybersecurity shield for real-time, end-to-end proactive protection across all technology estates." Armis co-founder and CEO Yevgeny Dibrov said in the release that AI has made every connected asset a potential point of vulnerability. "We built Armis to protect the most critical environments and give both public and private sector organizations the real-time intelligence they need to stay ahead -- so they can see their entire environment clearly, understand risk in context, and take action before an incident occurs," Dibrov said. "Together with ServiceNow, customers will have a powerful new way to reduce their exposure and strengthen security at scale." It was reported Dec. 14 that ServiceNow was in advanced discussions to acquire Armis and that the planned acquisition would follow an array of similar deals in the cybersecurity space, a trend driven by the rising use of AI to fend off hackers.