Navan, a corporate travel and expense management platform, began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday and closed its first day with a 20% drop from its initial public offering price of $25. That decline set the company’s valuation at about $4.7 billion, a sharp contrast from its earlier projections. The company, which has operated for ten years, became the first to go public under a new SEC rule that allows listings to move forward even during a U.S. government shutdown.
The rule offers a shortcut for companies wanting to go public without waiting for the usual SEC review and approval. Instead of receiving a green light from regulators, companies automatically gain approval for their IPO filings 20 days after submitting their documents and price range. This method helps firms bypass the waiting period but comes with a major risk: the SEC can still review the filings later. If regulators find errors, omissions, or misleading information after the listing, the company could face amendments, a fall in share price, or even lawsuits.
Navan chose to take the risk, largely because the SEC had already reviewed most of its filings before the government shutdown began on October 1. The leadership felt confident enough to move forward, but investors remained cautious, and the market response reflected that uncertainty. The sharp drop in Navan’s stock on its first day likely came from fears surrounding regulatory follow-up and broader skepticism about tech IPOs in a volatile market.
Navan’s debut has now become a case study for other companies planning to go public soon. Many startups hoping to list before the end of the year are watching closely. They now face a choice: move ahead with the same SEC workaround and risk post-approval scrutiny, or wait until normal review processes resume. The outcome of Navan’s decision may influence how others approach their timing.
The company had been preparing for this moment for years. It confidentially filed for an IPO back in 2022 and originally aimed to list in early 2023 with a target valuation of about $12 billion. Navan, previously known as TripActions, had last achieved a private valuation of $9.2 billion when it raised $154 million in a Series G funding round in October 2022.
Navan counts major corporations like Shopify, Zoom, Wayfair, OpenAI, and Thomson Reuters among its clients. Its platform uses an AI-powered assistant called Ava, which manages about half of all customer interactions related to booking or changing travel plans for flights, hotels, and car rentals. The company also offers an expense management solution that helps businesses automate employee expense tracking through features like receipt scanning and category tagging.
In the past 12 months, Navan generated $613 million in revenue, marking a 32% increase from the previous year. Despite that growth, it recorded a loss of $188 million, showing that profitability remains a challenge. Key investors who supported the company before its IPO included Lightspeed with a 24.8% stake, Oren Zeev with 18.6%, Andreessen Horowitz with 12.6%, and Greenoaks with 7.1%.
The disappointing market debut serves as a reminder of how uncertain the IPO environment remains, especially for tech companies navigating both regulatory shifts and investor caution. While Navan’s move broke new ground by taking advantage of the SEC’s shutdown rule, its initial performance shows how innovation in process doesn’t always guarantee smooth results in the market. The coming weeks will reveal whether investor confidence returns or whether the company’s bold step becomes a cautionary tale for others waiting in line.
