Navan, Inc. (NAVN) Business Profile

What it does

Navan is a business travel and expense platform for organizations and their employees. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Palo Alto, it is led by Chief Executive Officer Ariel Cohen. Its software brings travel booking, corporate payments and expense management into one system.

Employees can use Navan Travel to book flights, hotels, trains and rental cars within their employer’s travel policies. The platform also provides trip updates and lets travelers change reservations. Finance teams can use its expense tools to see spending, apply policies and reconcile transactions. Customers can use Navan’s corporate cards or connect eligible existing third-party cards to its expense application.

Navan also provides support for meetings and events, premium service for executive travel, and personal travel connected to business trips. Customers access the platform through web and mobile applications, administrative tools and integrations with other business systems.

Behind the booking interface, Navan Cloud brings together travel inventory through supplier relationships, technology connections and partners. Navan Cognition is the company’s artificial intelligence framework, which uses its own software alongside third-party language models. It supports virtual agents that handle tasks such as booking changes and expense tracking. Human agents also provide travel support, including for more complex needs.

How it makes money

Navan earns revenue from customers, travel suppliers and payment partners. Some revenue depends on activity on the platform, while some comes from subscriptions.

Customers typically sign annual or multi-year contracts. They pay per-trip or per-transaction fees for travel and on-demand services such as VIP travel, meetings and events, and personal travel. Expense Management generally carries an annual subscription fee. Its subscription gives customers access to software for tracking and controlling business spending; it can be used with Navan’s corporate cards or with eligible third-party cards.

Suppliers, including airlines, hotels, rental car companies and rail providers, compensate Navan for bookings. The company earns commissions based on booking value and the applicable supplier’s commission rate. Certain supplier arrangements also pay additional fees when cumulative bookings or transaction values pass contractual thresholds. Payment processors and card-issuing partners pay Navan fees based on spending volume on its corporate cards.

Navan does not earn revenue from spending on cards enrolled through Navan Connect, its framework for linking existing corporate cards to Expense Management. The company offers that connection to give customers a way to use the expense application without changing their existing card relationships.

In fiscal 2026, usage-based revenue was $640.4 million, while subscription revenue was $61.9 million. Revenue has historically been strongest in the third fiscal quarter, as business travel usually falls during holiday periods. Corporate card revenue is also affected when travelers spend less.

Customers and how it sells

Navan’s customers are companies and other organizations that contract for access to its travel, payment, expense or on-demand travel services. They range from small and medium-sized businesses to middle-market companies and enterprises. They operate in industries including technology, real estate, health, media, retail and finance.

The company has historically used a direct sales team to reach mid-size and larger organizations, including those already using a travel and expense provider. It also uses a product-led, sales-assisted approach to reach customers that have not previously had a dedicated provider. Self-service implementation tools let those customers roll out offerings at their own pace, with customer support available as their use grows.

In fiscal 2026, the United States accounted for $435.8 million of revenue, or 62.1%. The United Kingdom accounted for $145.9 million, or 20.8%, and the rest of the world for $120.5 million, or 17.2%. Navan supports international customers with travel inventory, regional knowledge and multi-currency payment services.

One payment partner represented 12.0% of revenue in fiscal 2024. Navan earns payment-partner fees based on spending on its corporate cards.

Suppliers and costs

Navan relies on airlines, hotels, rental car companies, rail carriers, ground transportation providers and distribution systems to make travel inventory available. It sources flight and lodging inventory through distribution systems, online travel agencies, partnerships and supplier connections. It sources most rail inventory through a third-party aggregator and accesses black car services through a separate specialized distribution system.

Its payment infrastructure includes relationships with card networks, banks, processors and issuing partners. Navan also uses third-party language models alongside its own software for its artificial intelligence framework.

The company spends on research and development, sales and marketing, employees, technology and its platform. It invested approximately $406.1 million in research and development cumulatively across fiscal 2026, 2025 and 2024. Its commitments include office leases and non-cancelable purchases primarily for cloud hosting and software subscriptions.

Navan funds corporate card transactions before receiving payment from customers. The timing of those payments can cause working capital needs to fluctuate, particularly during peak travel periods.

Competitive position

Navan competes in travel management against providers including BCD Travel, Global Business Travel Group and SAP Concur. It also faces traditional and online travel agencies, travel search services, hotel and airline direct-booking platforms, and other alternatives. In expense management and corporate payments, competitors include Expensify, Oracle, SAP, Brex and Ramp, as well as businesses managing expenses themselves.

Navan offers travel, expenses and payments together, while allowing customers to connect eligible existing corporate cards rather than switch to its own cards. Its enterprise integrations synchronize information such as employee directories, expense categories and policy controls with customers’ systems. Brex is both a named competitor and a card issuer whose cards can be connected through Navan Connect.

Our reading: Integrations across travel, expense and existing business systems can make Navan more embedded in customer workflows, although the sources do not establish how difficult customers find it to switch. Our reading: Its supplier connections and broad inventory support its competitive position, but competing travel providers and direct-booking channels also seek the same customers.

Navan’s artificial intelligence framework supports virtual agents, and its chatbot Ava handled approximately 52% of user interactions in fiscal 2026. Our reading: Automation can help Navan serve users at scale, but the company also faces competition from digital offerings, including those powered by AI.

Growth opportunities

Navan seeks to add customers through direct sales to mid-size and larger organizations and through a product-led approach for businesses without a dedicated travel and expense provider. It plans to keep investing in tools for those customers to implement and use its offerings. It also plans to broaden its presence outside the United States.

Within existing accounts, Navan typically starts with Travel and then seeks to sell Corporate Payments, Expense Management, VIP and other services. Its customer success teams work with customers to increase use among employees and address barriers to adoption. More bookings and more spending on Navan-issued cards can increase the activity on which it earns fees.

The company expects to continue investing in Navan Cognition and its machine-learning capabilities. It also expects to invest in mobile interface enhancements, including Navan Edge. Navan may consider acquisitions to develop capabilities, supplier relationships or geographic expertise.

In fiscal 2026, usage-based revenue was $640.4 million, compared with $490.4 million in fiscal 2025. Subscription revenue was $61.9 million, compared with $46.5 million in fiscal 2025. The company’s ability to expand sales within existing accounts depends on factors including customer satisfaction, competition, pricing and changes in customer travel and expense spending.

Structural risks

• Travel demand and seasonality: Changes in business travel demand, customer travel budgets, economic conditions, geopolitical conflict or travel disruptions can affect activity. Revenue has historically been strongest in the third fiscal quarter, with less travel during holiday periods.
• Competition and adoption: Navan must attract and retain customers and increase adoption beyond travel management. It faces established travel providers and digital competitors, including AI-powered offerings, as well as customers’ existing methods of managing expenses.
• Supplier and partner relationships: Failure to maintain or expand supplier and partner relationships, or changes in commission rates, can affect the business. The company also depends on payment processors and card-issuing partners.
• Technology and operations: Security breaches, platform interruptions, or failure to deploy features and integrate Navan Cognition can affect the business. The use of artificial intelligence also creates legal, operational and reputational risks.
• Losses and funding: Navan had an accumulated deficit of $2.0 billion as of January 31, 2026, and expects to continue to incur operating losses. It may require additional capital, which may not be available on acceptable terms.
• Customer transition: Navan is transitioning Reed & Mackay customers to its technology platform. The effect of that transition on existing customer relationships remains uncertain.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Navan combines subscription software with fees tied to travel bookings and corporate card spending, so its results depend on both customer adoption and activity on the platform (item1, item7). Its integrated tools and supplier connections support its competitive position, while travel demand, competition and continued operating losses remain important exposures (item1, item1a, item7).