Expense management startup Navan has entered into an exclusive partnership with Citi, a move that promises to significantly broaden the fintech’s market potential. This collaboration introduces a jointly branded travel and expense system tailored for Citi Commercial (CCB) cardholders.
The significance of this partnership cannot be overstated, with Citi being the third-largest bank in the United States, supporting over 25,000 global commercial card programs and serving more than 7 million cardholders worldwide. These cardholders collectively account for an annual charge volume exceeding $42 billion in the U.S. alone.
Michael Sindicich, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Navan Expense, shared his perspective, stating, “This deal vastly expands the range of companies we can serve.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Citi will offer its commercial clients, defined as companies with annual revenues of $10 million or more, the option to enroll in Navan’s offering, Navan Connect. Once enrolled, cardholders’ accounts will seamlessly integrate with Navan’s software, effectively eliminating the need to file expense reports for travel-related or other expenditures. This innovative collaboration aims to simplify expense management, enhancing efficiency for Citi’s extensive network of commercial cardholders.
Chris Pieroth, managing director, head of commercial cards global product development at Citi, told TechCrunch in an interview that the bank’s clients “have been asking for this for a while.”
“They have said, ‘It would really be nice if you could offer us a true end-to-end solution that handles the booking, the payment and the expenses… We spent a long time considering different partners, and we settled on Navan for a variety of reasons — the biggest I think being that they’ve really taken an innovative approach to the travel and expense environment. And this concept of not having to file an expense report is like nirvana for most cardholders. We’ve been hearing that for decades.”
Before unveiling its Connect offering, Navan (formerly TripActions), customers would need to use its cards in order to have access to its automated expense management and payments capabilities.
But then the company realized the value of integrating its own technology with those of financial institutions. As such, Navan is not concerned with its Connect product competing with its own corporate card offering.
Rather than making money off of interchange fees, Navan is generating revenue through subscription license fees for its expense management software and for travel by charging trip fees.
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