Skift Travel News Blog

Navan, the corporate travel agency previously called TripActions, rolled out a feature that enables companies to retain the benefits of their Visa and Mastercard corporate cards and still gain access to Navan’s automated expense management features.

Source: Navan

The new patent-pending feature, Navan Connect, saves enterprise clients and smaller companies, if applicable, from having to transition away from their corporate cards and their benefits to access Navan’s expense management features, the company said. “With the swipe of an enrolled card, expenses are automatically checked against company policy, categorized, and reconciled,” Navan states.

Previously, clients had to use a Navan Card to gain access to these features, launched three years ago, and this may have been a roadblock to Navan signing up more enterprise accounts. 

“With Navan Connect, we’re expanding this convenience and efficiency to the corporate cardsthat our customers prefer, harmonizing personal choice with corporate needs,” said Navan co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen in a statement. “It’s not just a product; it’s our pledge to simplify expense management while enhancing flexibility and control for businesses.”

Navan stated it intends to add other corporate cards to Navan Connect.

Mastercard is planning to make a minority investment in Conferma Pay, a fintech company acquired earlier this year by Sabre Corporation.

The new partnership with Mastercard will allow Conferma Pay to expand the use of virtual cards for business-to-business travel payments.

Sabre acquired Conferma Pay for $72.5 million in August 2022, according to a filing in September with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

UK-based Conferma Pay provides software and commercial deals to help the travel industry move to virtual cards, through which account information is issued for one-time use in an effort to shield the buyer’s identity when making online purchases and prevent fraud. Virtual cards also allow travel buyers and suppliers to more easily track and reconcile payments. 

(Skift has covered this in its recent megatrend Travel Payments Find Path to Painless.)

Conferma Pay said it connects issuers to more than 700 travel management companies, all the major global distribution systems, and more than 100 online booking tools. The company said it is fully integrated with all the major card brands and works with more than 50 banking partners, allowing them to issue virtual cards in nearly 100 currencies.

Conferma Pay will continue to operate independently. Sabre’s Virtual Payments platform integrates the Conferma Pay services. 

“The payments industry is in the midst of a revolution and there is an increased need for travel companies to better manage the whole payment experience,” said Roshan Mendis, chief commercial officer for Sabre Travel Solutions, in a statement. “Companies in the travel space — including travel management companies, travel agencies, corporations, issuers, and technology partners — need sophisticated solutions and seamless connections. Sabre is taking strategic steps to fulfill the needs of our industry, beginning with the acquisition of Conferma Pay.”