Workflow automation platform ServiceNow is reportedly in advanced discussions to purchase cybersecurity startup Armis.
The deal, which could be worth up to $7 billion, could be announced in the coming days and comes in the wake of Armis’ preparations for an initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg News reported Sunday (Dec. 14), citing sources familiar with the situation.
PYMNTS has reached out to both ServiceNow and Armis for comment but has not yet received a response.
Based in San Francisco and founded by veterans of Israel’s military cyber intelligence forces, Armis deals in identifying and tracking security threats to devices, working with a variety of industries, such as defense, telecom, medical, retail and financial services.
According to Bloomberg, CEO Yevgeny Dibrov had said in August that Armis had reached $300 million in annual recurring revenue, up from $200 million in 2024.
And last month, the company raised $435 million in a pre-IPO funding round that valued it at $6.1 billion. Armis said it would use the new financing to fuel a three-year plan that includes reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and preparing for an IPO.
The Bloomberg report noted that ServiceNow’s planned acquisition follows an array of similar deals in the cybersecurity space, a trend driven by the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) to fend off hackers. Among the biggest deals in this space was Google’s $32 billion purchase of cloud security firm Wiz in March.
Research by PYMNTS Intelligence — from the report “The AI MonitorEdge Report: COOs Leverage GenAI to Reduce Data Security Losses” — found that the share of chief operating officers (COOs) who said their companies had employed AI-powered automated cybersecurity management systems jumped from 17% in May 2024 to 55% in August.
In addition, the report found that these COOs turned to new AI-based systems because they could identify fraudulent activities, spot anomalies and offer real-time threat assessments.
“These findings underscore a broader trend of AI becoming an indispensable asset for strategic risk management,” the report said. “As cyber threats grow in sophistication, COOs view AI as an essential tool in maintaining organizational resilience and trust that it can protect their organization from security breaches and fraud.”
However, additional research found that 77% of chief product officers who use generative AI for cybersecurity say it still requires human oversight, highlighting the fact “that confidence in AI’s ‘effectiveness’ doesn’t equal independence,” as PYMNTS wrote last month.
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/