Navan Re-Rebrands Back to TripActions
CEO Ariel Cohen Apologizes for Customer Confusion, Day-Drinking
PALO ALTO, April 1, 2023 — Navan, the all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management super app, today announced that it has re-rebranded back to its previous name, TripActions. While the company originally made the decision to change its name due to confusion around the ability of its expense management solution, Liquid, to handle off-trip expenses (it can); ultimately, its leadership team decided that its brand equity was too intrinsically linked to its original name.
“First, I’d like to apologize to our customers, users, and investors for the confusion this has caused. This was a rash decision made without any market research,” says Ariel Cohen, TripActions co-founder and CEO. “My habit of drinking champagne prior to 9am wasn't helpful,” he added.
The change will be immediate: Travelers will today see the original TripActions logo and branding in iOS and desktop, including its signature red circle and blue square, which symbolizes the power of bringing together different people and personalities to move business forward. The super app will revert to an ecosystem of microapps until the market is ready.
“Prominent leaders and trailblazers throughout history, such as Kanye West, have changed their names regularly — it’s how you stay ahead,” says TripActions co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen. “Additionally, the financial ramifications became pretty clear to me after the rebrand. The amount of old swag we have was truly shocking. The idea of writing off that many Yeti mugs and hoodies in this economic environment was honestly depressing.”
TripActions’ founding vision of a simplified corporate travel experience has expanded to address the intertwined pain points of expense reporting, spend management, corporate cards, group travel, VIP travel, meetings and events, and personal travel. With Navan, TripActions had hoped to shed its business travel-only perception. However, that effort appears to have been in vain as the industry seems to be ill-motivated to allow for change.
“The decision to rebrand back to TripActions was simple. Purple is not my color and, quite frankly, it clashes with my sweater blazers,” says Grant McGrail, CRO. “This move comes at the perfect time — if one more client, investor, or friend asked me why we changed our name to Navan, I was going to lose it.”
About TripActions (formerly known as Navan, formerly formerly known as TripActions)
TripActions is the all-in-one solution that makes travel easy so you can focus on being there, not getting there. Say goodbye to spending hours on the phone trying to change your flight or saving stacks of receipts to manually input expenses. From EAs and finance teams to travel managers and employees, TripActions empowers people to focus on the things that matter most to them—all while providing companies with real-time visibility, savings, and control. Learn more at TripActions.com
