Navan IPO: Lone VC Fund Scores $1 Billion Windfall

It wasn’t your typical pitch meeting. No slides, no product demo, and frankly, no crystal-clear articulation of the founders’ vision. But for venture capitalist Oren Zeev, a gut feeling was more than enough.

“I simply liked them; I wanted to be connected to them,” Zeev recalls. “So, I wrote a small check – what I termed a ‘relationship investment.'”

The year was 2013. Zeev, previously a general partner at Apax Partners’ venture arm (now primarily a private equity firm), was operating as an angel investor, albeit one writing significantly larger checks than the norm. Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig were the recipients of his atypical approach. Following a casual meeting, Zeev committed $50,000 to their nascent startup, despite its still-undefined product and business model.

That nebulous idea materialized into StreamOnce, an early player in enterprise collaboration, swiftly acquired by Jive Software. While a modest financial success for both founders and Zeev, it laid the groundwork for a much grander venture: Navan, a business travel platform (formerly TripActions) founded in 2015, which is poised to reshape the corporate travel landscape.

Navan, ranked No. 39 on this year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list, has priced its initial public offering. The company raised $923 million, pricing the deal at $25 per share and valuing the company at over $6 billion.

Similar to StreamOnce, Zeev’s involvement with Navan began with an informal encounter and a swift investment. However, unlike the initial venture, Zeev led Navan’s seed and Series A rounds, and participated in every subsequent equity financing. This early bet is now set to transform into a stake worth over $1 billion for Zeev upon the IPO, securing his position on Navan’s board.

“This is a first for me,” Zeev acknowledges, referencing the magnitude of the return from a single startup.

A New Investment Paradigm

While Navan’s exceptional exit is unique in its size, it represents a pattern for Zeev. The investor, who transitioned from traditional venture capital to angel investing (on a super-sized scale) and finally to a solo general partner (GP), raising capital from limited partners (LPs) while operating independently, has perfected his lone wolf approach. This model may be particularly advantageous in today’s dynamic market.

“The advantage you have as a solo GP in this fast-moving market is you can make a decision at the meeting,” said Kyle Stanford, director of U.S. venture research at financial data provider Pitchbook.

Zeev’s track record as a solo GP speaks for itself. His distinctive approach warrants examination, particularly in light of his most significant success to date.

Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1964, Zeev studied electrical engineering at the Technion before earning an MBA in France. Returning to Israel in 1994, he joined Apax Partners, becoming an early investor in Israel’s burgeoning startup scene.

“I don’t think I was a good investor [back then],” Zeev admits. “But I survived.”

Fortuitously, the tech sector was booming in the mid-90s. While Zeev considers his early Apax wins “irrelevant” compared to later successes, the favorable conditions facilitated some exits, including an investment in Bluetooth chip company Butterfly, acquired by Texas Instruments in 1999 for $50 million. His time at Apax was also a launchpad for the next phase of his career; in the early 2000s, Apax relocated Zeev to Silicon Valley.

It was 2002, a stark contrast to the earlier boom. “In hindsight, it was very good timing because it was after the bubble burst and everyone was really shell-shocked,” Zeev says. “Nobody was doing anything, and it gave me an opportunity.”

Audible: An Early Venture Success

Zeev’s first deal in Silicon Valley involved acquiring 40% of Audible, an audiobook pioneer. Public in 1999, Audible had been delisted after the dot-com crash. Private again, the company improved its strategy and benefited from better technology, but it struggled to find funding.

“It was pretty clear they had turned the corner, but everyone had taken them for dead for so long,” Zeev says. “My advantage was that I viewed it with fresh eyes. And my other advantage was that nobody was doing deals, because if I’d had any kind of competition, I would have lost.”

In 2003, Zeev persuaded Apax to invest roughly $10 million in Audible, which ultimately yielded $130 million – a significant victory at a time when few exits occurred. (Amazon acquired Audible in 2008.)

Zeev remained at Apax for a few more years, securing additional exits, but ultimately left in 2007, having “lost the joy” of investing.

“In hindsight, I know that what wore me out was all of the partnership dynamics and things like that, not necessarily investing,” he explains.

He took time off to enjoy his financial independence, trying golf and considering a PhD, but nothing appealed. He taught math and took courses at Stanford, but the itch to invest returned, leading him to tap his own capital.

By then, he had built a strong network, particularly among Israeli entrepreneurs. He made early investments in Tipalti, Houzz, and Chegg.

Technically an angel investor, Zeev invested his own capital independently, but in his way: “I led every single deal, and every single deal was a seven-figure-deal,” Zeev says.

The Peter Thiel Meeting That Redefined Zeev’s Approach

After a few years and some quick M&A exits, Zeev was enjoying his solo operation. But a 2015 meeting with Peter Thiel led to a pivotal change.

“I came out of that meeting with a fund I did not know I was raising,” Zeev says.

Thiel convinced Zeev to accept outside funding while continuing his solo operation. The first fund was $20 million – $18 million from Thiel and $2 million of Zeev’s. (He has been an LP in each subsequent fund.) It was an experiment for both, testing if Zeev could remain independent with outside investment.

“The answer was a clear yes,” he says.

Zeev found that he could outsource back-office tasks using a fractional CFO.

“I discovered that it’s very easy to outsource,” Zeev said.

Today, Zeev has no full-time employees and no formal office, conducting meetings (including the one for Navan) at Cafe Venetia in Palo Alto. He has an active portfolio of 50 companies and sits on 40 boards.

“Most GPs with Oren’s success have a team supporting them,” says Ben Choi, managing partner with Next Legacy Partners. “For an LP, that also means that there’s a team between us – other partners, junior professionals, investor relations.”

Zeev structures his LP relationships differently. While he charges a traditional management fee, he reinvests it entirely into the fund.

“I reinvest 100% of the management fees into the fund,” Zeev says, for “radical alignment” with his LPs.

Choi, whose firm invested in Zeev Ventures five years ago, values Zeev’s performance focus and clear communication. He says Zeev is responsive and dedicated, impressive given his $2.5 billion in assets under management and 50 portfolio companies.

“One of the things that can be challenging for a founder when you work with funds is understanding who is the decision maker,” says Rami Lachter, co-founder and CEO of Flare, an AI-powered legal software platform in Zeev Ventures’ portfolio. “With Oren, he’s the decision maker, he’s very straightforward, and he tells you what he thinks. So it’s super productive,” Lachter added.

Zeev is known for his decisiveness, making investment decisions within 24 hours. However, he acknowledges that not all companies follow a fast path to exit.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Navan went from growth to a standstill. With no clear end, the company had tough choices. Shortly after travel shut down, Navan laid off about 300 employees, a quarter of its workforce.

Zeev believes CEO Cohen and the team made the right decisions. Beyond layoffs, they shifted focus to corporate expenses, adjusted their product roadmap, and secured debt financing.

“I was very supportive of all of these decisions, but it was really Ariel [Navan’s CEO] who navigated the ship.”

Zeev relies on gut feeling when meeting founders.

“I have to like the founders, not just as people but also like them as founders and believe they can build something big,” Zeev said.

In Navan’s case, he liked and trusted the co-founders from their previous company. He also saw potential in disrupting corporate travel.

“The existing travel solutions back then were crap, and all the employees hated them and were trying to go around them,” he said.

However, he didn’t foresee a multi-billion-dollar company or weathering a global pandemic.

“I couldn’t know at that point, and I don’t think they could know at that point, that Ariel would grow to be what I consider today to be a world-class leader,” Zeev said.

Navan and Zeev waited as the company returned to growth. IPO rumors circulated for years, but COVID-19 and market volatility caused delays. (Zeev says they never formally started the IPO process before.)

While the IPO is a liquidity event for investors, founders, and employees, it doesn’t guarantee future success in the competitive sector. Navan has shown strong revenue growth: 33% year-over-year from $420 million to $537 million from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025, according to its S-1 filing. However, it is not yet profitable and faces rivals disrupting business travel.

Its IPO follows a renewed flurry of public offerings, potentially helping Zeev, who has future plans.

While Zeev isn’t selling shares in the IPO, he observes, “It’s quite rare for an early-stage investor to reach proceeds of over $1 billion. But I actually don’t think it will remain unique for a long time as I have several companies I expect to follow in the next few years.”

—CNBC Contributor