March 10 (Reuters) - ServiceNow NOW.N said on Monday it would buy artificial intelligence company Moveworks for $2.85 billion, marking the software maker's largest-ever acquisition as it looks to expand its product portfolio and attract more customers.

The cash and stock deal for privately-owned Moveworks comes as enterprises are increasingly adopting AI and investing in automating their IT operations to improve productivity.

Moveworks, which offers agentic AI solutions to assist clients, counts chipmaker Broadcom AVGO.O, cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks PANW.O and social media platform Pinterest PINS.N as its customers.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, the company said.

ServiceNow's "Now Assist" competes with Moveworks' AI chatbot, but they take different approaches.

Moveworks focuses on using AI to understand and resolve employee issues through chat. Its chatbot can be integrated with various platforms such as that of ServiceNow, Salesforce's CRM.N Slack and Microsoft's MSFT.O SharePoint.

On the other hand, ServiceNow integrates AI into its entire service management platform, aiming to streamline workflows and improve overall efficiency.

In 2021, Moveworks closed a $200 million in Series C funding round, which took its total funding to $315 million, with a valuation of $2.1 billion.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

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