39. Navan
Founders: Ariel Cohen (CEO), Ilan TwigLaunched: 2015Headquarters: Palo Alto, CaliforniaFunding: $2 billion (PitchBook)Valuation: $9.2 billion (PitchBook)Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learningIndustry: Enterprise technology, travelPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 1 (No. 38 in 2024)
Business travel has long been associated with clunky legacy tools and fragmented workflows. But Navan is betting that simplicity, and AI, can modernize the industry.
The Palo Alto-based travel and expense startup, formerly called TripActions, has transformed itself into what it calls the first "all-in-one super app" for corporate travel and expenses. It can handle everything from flight bookings to hotel recommendations to real-time expense tracking. Moreover, the platform gives companies a consolidated view of employee travel and spending.
The platform has been catching on. Navan said it has grown bookings twentyfold since the pandemic, that it ended 2024 with a record $550 million in revenue, and is on track to hit profitability this year. It now has 11,000 customers, including Unilever, Adobe, Christie's, Blue Origin and Geico. It's also processing corporate travel spending via Navan Connect, a card-linking technology that lets businesses offer automated expense management and reconciliation without having to change corporate card providers.
Behind all that growth is a strong push into AI. Navan's virtual assistant, named Ava, now fields about 150,000 support chats a month and resolves more than half without human involvement. The company says the virtual assistant matches human agents on customer satisfaction ratings. Navan also recently introduced Concierge by Ava, a tool that uses real-time data and user travel patterns to suggest hyper-personalized hotel bookings.
Those AI features played a starring role last summer during the Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage. The company said Ava helped shoulder the surge in support volume, keeping wait times down and satisfaction scores up. The company also struck unexpected partnerships, including one with competitor Brex to integrate travel booking with BrexPay, and launched co-branded offerings with Citizens and Rho.
Still, competition is fierce. Navan is jostling for market share against expense and travel startups like fellow Disruptor Ramp, TravelPerk, and Brex, as well as incumbents like SAP Concur and American Express Global Business Travel. It's a crowded field — and Navan's all-in-one approach means it's fighting on multiple fronts.
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