Navan Shares Drop 20% in Nasdaq Debut Amid Government Shutdown Risks

Navan, a corporate travel and expense management platform, went public on Nasdaq with an IPO priced at $25 per share, raising approximately $923 million. Despite this, the stock dropped 20% on its first day, closing near $20, resulting in a valuation around $4.7 billion, down from prior private valuations near $9.2 billion. Navan was the first company to utilize a new SEC rule allowing IPOs to proceed automatically during the U.S. government shutdown, bypassing traditional manual regulatory approval but carrying risks of later scrutiny and potential amendments. The initial stock decline reflects investor caution amid these regulatory uncertainties and skepticism about long-term scalability and sector defensibility. Navan serves over 10,000 businesses including Shopify, Zoom, and OpenAI, offering AI-powered tools to automate travel booking and expense management, with recent revenue growth of 32% but net losses of $188 million over the past year. Investors and market watchers are closely observing Navan's performance as an indicator for other startups considering IPOs under similar regulatory conditions.