Travel-tech unicorn Navan files for IPO in rebounding market
The Israeli-founded corporate travel and expense company looks to capitalize on Wall Street’s warming embrace of growth-stage tech.
Corporate travel and expense company Navan has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, as it looks to take advantage of growing investor optimism for new listings after a dry spell.
The Israeli-founded company, headquartered in Palo Alto, California and backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed among others, raised $304 million in equity and structured debt financing in 2022 and was valued at $9.2 billion at the time, according to the company.
Activity in the U.S. IPO market, which started the year on a slower footing, has shown signs of a sustained revival in recent weeks after a couple of fresh flotations received overwhelming investor support.
The technology sector has been dominating the U.S. IPO headlines in the recent revival along with finance, with companies such as space and defence tech firm Voyager Technologies and adtech MNTN making stellar debuts.
Chime Financial's shares also surged in one of the most hotly anticipated New York debuts of the month, paving the path for public offerings of a few big names like crypto exchange Gemini and fintech firm Klarna later in the year.
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Navan, founded in 2015 by Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig as TripActions, began as a corporate travel management platform aiming to streamline services offered by traditional players such as American Express and SAP Concur. It later expanded into corporate payments and expense management.
Its clients include Zoom Communications and Lyft, according to Navan's website.
The company has already lined up a roster of heavyweight underwriters for its IPO, led by Goldman Sachs.
