Link: Apply now for Venture X Business (Rates & Fees)
In 2021, we saw the launch of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees), which has become incredibly popular with consumers. It’s a premium credit card that focuses on offering great value rather than just prestige. It’s not only a card that I have, but it’s also the card that I spend the most on.
And the Venture X Business card (review) is an equally excellent option for small businesses. It’s a lucrative card — while there’s a lot of overlap with the consumer version of the card, there are also some differences. This card will no doubt interest many small business owners.
In this post:
Details of the Venture X Business card
Capital One’s premium small business rewards card, Venture X Business, has a $395 annual fee (Rates & Fees). The Venture X Business card offers an enticing welcome bonus, unlimited 2x miles on all purchases, a $300 travel credit and 10,000 bonus miles annually, lounge access, and more. Let’s cover all the details of this card.
Venture X Business 150K Bonus Mules
The Venture X Business card is offering an excellent welcome bonus, with an equally significant spend requirement in a short time. The Capital One Venture X Business is offering a welcome bonus where you can earn 150,000 bonus miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
Admittedly this spending requirement is significant, but the reward is big as well.
Venture X Business $395 annual fee
The Venture X Business card has a $395 annual fee (Rates & Fees), but there is no cost to add authorized users. For anyone who travels with any frequency, the annual fee should more than pay for itself, thanks to the ongoing perks, which I’ll cover in more detail below.
Venture X Business 2x miles on spend
The Venture X Business card offers the following rewards structure:
- 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5x miles on flights booked via Capital One Travel
- 2x miles on all other purchases
- The card has no foreign transaction fees, making this ideal for purchases abroad
- The card has no preset spending limit, and your spending power can increase over time
Most noteworthy is the return on everyday spending, as the card offers 2x miles per dollar spent. Capital One miles are extremely valuable, and can either be redeemed for one cent each toward the cost of a travel purchase, or can be transferred to Capital One’s travel partners, generally at a ratio of 1:1. Earning two airline miles per dollar spent is awesome.
Ordinarily, I’m opposed to booking travel through credit card portals, but Capital One Travel is well done and has unique features, including savings on flights, 24/7 alert technology with price changes, a best price guarantee on hotels, and more.
Capital One Travel bookings include services such as price freeze, change a flight after you book, price prediction, price watch, price drop protection, and price match guarantee. Additional fees may apply. The availability of these services varies by account and they may not be available on all bookings. Terms apply. See travel.capitalone.com/terms-of-service/ for details.
Venture X Business $300 credit & 10K bonus miles
This is where Venture X Business shines. While Venture X Business has a $395 annual fee (Rates & Fees), it should be very easy for any small business to justify that based on two benefits alone:
- A $300 credit every year for bookings made through Capital One Travel; this can be applied toward any type of travel booked through Capital One Travel, including flights, hotels, rental cars, etc.
- 10,000 bonus miles on the account anniversary every year; there’s no spending requirement to unlock this, and it’s worth a minimum of $100 toward a travel purchase, or could get you up to 10,000 airline miles (which I value at $170)
Between those two benefits alone, that’s $470 worth of value annually for a $395 annual fee card. And that doesn’t even account for the other perks (including airport lounge access), which I’ll cover below.
Furthermore, Venture X Business offers up to a $120 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit once every four years, which adds even more value to the card.
Venture X Business lounge access
The Venture X Business card has an excellent lounge access perk for the primary cardmember:
- The card offers unlimited access to Capital One Lounges
- The card offers a Priority Pass membership, with the ability to bring two guests
- The card offers access to Plaza Premium Lounges
There are two key differences between the consumer and business version of the card, though:
- On the business version of the card, authorized users don’t get lounge access. This perk is limited to the primary cardmember
- On the business version of the card, the Priority Pass membership does offer credits at Priority Pass restaurants, while the consumer version of the card doesn’t offer this
Lounge access is not guaranteed and is subject to space availability. Prices and benefits are subject to change. Enrollment required for Priority Pass. See Guide to Benefits for details.
Who should consider Venture X Business?
There’s not a single card that will be ideal for every small business owner. However, Venture X Business offers premium rewards and unmatched travel benefits, suitable for high-spending, established businesses. This is so much more than just another premium business card:
- The card offers an industry-leading return on spending, and there are no hoops to jump through in terms of taking advantage of bonus categories or having to use a bunch of different cards to get a lucrative return
- The lack of a preset spending limit will be useful for growing your business, as it’s not uncommon to find yourself in a situation where you need to make a purchase not covered by a traditional credit card credit line
- The card’s annual fee is easy to justify, thanks to the $300 Capital One Travel credit, 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, and excellent lounge access.
Capital One miles offer amazing flexibility
One thing that can’t be emphasized enough about the Capital One Venture mileage ecosystem is just how flexible the rewards are, especially in comparison to other popular points currencies. As mentioned above, for every eligible dollar you spend on Venture X Business, you earn a minimum of 2x miles.
Now, personally, I appreciate the value of being able to transfer those miles to Capital One’s travel loyalty partners, ranging from Air France-KLM Flying Blue to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles. I manage to get outsized value this way. However, there’s no denying that there are some hoops to jump through with transferable points currencies, and it takes a lot of effort to redeem this way. Terms and Conditions of your eligible credit card and the Terms and Conditions of the miles transfer partner program apply.
What’s so beautiful about Capital One is how each mile can also be easily redeemed. You can make a travel purchase with the card, and then simply reimburse yourself for that purchase within 90 days. This gives you so much flexibility, regardless of whether you want to book a hotel, flight, rental car, etc.
There’s not any card from American Express or Chase that offers you that level of return per dollar spent toward travel purchases, and that flexibility can’t be underestimated.
Bottom line
The Venture X Business card is easily one of the most lucrative business cards out there. This card has it all — a great return on everyday spending with no pre-set spending limit, perks that justify the annual fee, lounge access, and one of the biggest welcome offers we’ve ever seen.
While I think this card could make sense for most small business owners, it’s especially lucrative for businesses with a lot of spending.
What do you make of Venture X Business?
Capital X Business Card is generally a great card to have. I have applied and received the card 3 weeks ago. Now has a very frustrating issue that i can't transfer its reward points to any travel partner (Such as airline, etc). The problem is caused by its "2-way verification" process which instead of using my mobile number (saved in my account profile), it goes out to search public records and tell me my number...
Capital X Business Card is generally a great card to have. I have applied and received the card 3 weeks ago. Now has a very frustrating issue that i can't transfer its reward points to any travel partner (Such as airline, etc). The problem is caused by its "2-way verification" process which instead of using my mobile number (saved in my account profile), it goes out to search public records and tell me my number is not valid. I have called its support people and was told the problem must be with my mobile number. So I am without anyway to transfer its points. has Anyone encountered the same problem ?
@Ben - Have you had any luck with Capital One customer service? I do not think they are ready for prime time. I had to deny a charge from a hotel in Mexico because they didn't have my reservation from the Capital One portal. I waited 2 hours and gave up. I ended up booking the Hyatt Ziva on points. The hotel called me 4 hours later to let me know they have the reservation...
@Ben - Have you had any luck with Capital One customer service? I do not think they are ready for prime time. I had to deny a charge from a hotel in Mexico because they didn't have my reservation from the Capital One portal. I waited 2 hours and gave up. I ended up booking the Hyatt Ziva on points. The hotel called me 4 hours later to let me know they have the reservation now. I told them too late, I needed to get into a hotel. The hotel denied a refund saying that I booked too last minute and Capital One stood by the hotel . I also denied a charge from a gas station that ended up putting an entire $100 hold down as a charge when I only got 10 gallons of gas and lost that one too.
Capital One is all fluffy commercials ..GREAT bank accounts absolutely miserable credit card customer service. I also got taxed for points I got form a referral which Chase has never done to me.
I would advise no one to get this card to spend on... not unless you do not care about the bank having your back in a dispute.
I will start by saying that I am a big fan of Ben and genuinely believe he is the preeminent travel blogger in the industry. So, my comments are no reflection on Ben and are directed at Capital One. That said, I have not had a good experience with this card and want others to be aware of some questionable Capital One business practices.
On the personal side, I have both the Venture and the...
I will start by saying that I am a big fan of Ben and genuinely believe he is the preeminent travel blogger in the industry. So, my comments are no reflection on Ben and are directed at Capital One. That said, I have not had a good experience with this card and want others to be aware of some questionable Capital One business practices.
On the personal side, I have both the Venture and the Venture X cards. For both cards I have high spending limits, I make large purchases each month, and never carry a balance. Unfortunately, Capital One gave me a very low spending cap (even though it is a charge card and not a credit card). This is important because they capped me at $8,000. The math is easy enough to do, at $8k/month, I can’t hit the $30k spending requirement in the first 3 months and I can’t make larger purchases to get me there quickly. And yes, I can make multiple smaller purchases, and pay them off multiple times a month to try and get to the $30k threshold, but that isn’t reasonable (especially given my history with Capital One) and should be disclosed if it is a potential requirement.
I did reach out to Capital One and was essentially told that there is nothing that can be done. They said that I have the option of charging and paying multiple times a month to get to the spending threshold, or I can “just cancel the card if I am unhappy.” In addition, I was told that it might just be a system glitch that cleared up in a couple of days. I was also told that if I made one or two large purchases, and paid them off immediately, that my limit would likely be increased to something equivalent to my other Capital One cards. It’s been more than two weeks and no glitch correction. And three large purchases in, and paying off each of them the same day they post, have proved to be yet another lie about increasing the limit. For the record, it takes Capital One 2-3 days to post a charge after it is made, and then another 2-3 days to clear the balance after it is paid. That’s a lot of additional work on my part to coordinate appropriately sized charges, time the payments, and align the next charge.
This seems like a bait and switch scenario as well as highly questionable business practices. To make things worse, I was at 4/24 before applying for this card, but felt that the value was worth bringing me up to 5/24. Now, I cannot take advantage of any of the Chase business offers because, even if I were to cancel the Capital One card, my report will still as a 5/24. This is unfair all the way around and I hope it serves as a warning to other. And sorry Ben if this negatively impacts you, but that is on Capital One and they should have corrected this issue when I brought it to their attention (or followed up with me to correct it as I requested).
Thanks for listening and safe travels everyone.
I have the Spark Cash Business card and the Venture Rewards (no fee) card. The two accounts are linked online.
I have a ton of cash back in my Spark account and have some miles in my Venture account. My goal is to use both currencies to transfer as miles to airlines (so move the cash back to the venture account and then to an airline). I can move my cash back from the...
I have the Spark Cash Business card and the Venture Rewards (no fee) card. The two accounts are linked online.
I have a ton of cash back in my Spark account and have some miles in my Venture account. My goal is to use both currencies to transfer as miles to airlines (so move the cash back to the venture account and then to an airline). I can move my cash back from the Spark into the Venture Rewards card to do so. So far correct?
If I want to apply for the Venture X Business, it seems like I have to close the Spark Cash Business. Right?
To “protect” all my cash back in my Spark account, I suppose I should move it all to the Venture Rewards card first and then close the Spark Cash? And then apply for the Venture X Business? Any risks or issues? I understand I may not be approved for the new card but am I jeopardizing my cash back turned into venture points somehow? I suspect they will lose their “cash back” feature and I am ok with that as long as they retain their transferability to airline programs.
Any suggestions/application strategy pointers for those with a Spark Cash Business?
Is the $300 credit a coupon like the personal Venture x or a credit as used to be on personal one? Also do you know if book a flight on the Capital One site and use the coupon, can the flight later be cancelled with the airline for a credit with the airline?
This is at best an incomplete post, probably because capital one paid for it, since it doesn’t talk about the numerous issues with the capital one portal. All the miles and points in the world are useless if you can’t redeem them when you need to.
Perhaps you could highlight some of the issues you're referring to?
For those new to applying for a business card, I thought I would share my experience.
This will be my first business card for a sole proprietorship. I was completely transparent and said that the business is new, has zero income, shared that I would potentially be purchases of greater than $50k, and I have no EIN. I received an instant approval. I do have two other personal Capital One cards, so I'm not...
For those new to applying for a business card, I thought I would share my experience.
This will be my first business card for a sole proprietorship. I was completely transparent and said that the business is new, has zero income, shared that I would potentially be purchases of greater than $50k, and I have no EIN. I received an instant approval. I do have two other personal Capital One cards, so I'm not sure if that influenced the results.
I am super excited about earning over 200k points on this card (150k + 60k for the $30k spend). Thanks Ben for the recommendation.
And for anyone complaining about sponsorships, please be reasonable. We all read Ben's site for free, often benefiting greatly from the information provided. Clearly there has to be a revenue stream for him to continue to provide this content. On more that one occasion I have seen Ben's disclaimer at the top of an article where he says less than favorable things about the card/product. I have been following Ben for almost as long as he has been blogging and I have yet to find questionable content on his site...accept for maybe some of the award availability that he seems to get that I can't find LOL.
@ gsd101 -- Thanks very much for the data point, and for the support! :-)
Ben, can you speak to eligibility for the bonus if a business already has the 2x/dollar spark miles and/or spark cash cards? I've looked at the fine print on Cap1's application, and I didn't see anywhere in the T&C where this is squarely addressed.
If they won't allow the SUB for those already having a spark or certain flavors of spark, will they allow a business to acquire the Venture X Biz minus the...
Ben, can you speak to eligibility for the bonus if a business already has the 2x/dollar spark miles and/or spark cash cards? I've looked at the fine print on Cap1's application, and I didn't see anywhere in the T&C where this is squarely addressed.
If they won't allow the SUB for those already having a spark or certain flavors of spark, will they allow a business to acquire the Venture X Biz minus the SUB? Do they allow "upgrades" or conversions from spark to Venture X Biz? Thanks for any guidance you can provide.
@ lars -- You're not eligible for the bonus if you have the Spark Cash Plus, but you are potentially eligible if you have any other Capital One business card. Generally if you're not eligible for the bonus, you'll automatically be declined, and a different card will be recommended for you.
I shared my experience with the Venture X Business approval process here:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/venture-x-business-application/
Thank you so much for your response, Ben.
We've got both the Spark Miles 2x and the Spark Cash Plus already, so looks like we're up the creek on the Venture X Biz (at least until we cancel Spark Cash Plus and enough time elapses for Cap1 to see that on our credit report).
Seems strange that they'd keep offering Spark Miles Plus after releasing Venture X Biz. I can't see why anyone would...
Thank you so much for your response, Ben.
We've got both the Spark Miles 2x and the Spark Cash Plus already, so looks like we're up the creek on the Venture X Biz (at least until we cancel Spark Cash Plus and enough time elapses for Cap1 to see that on our credit report).
Seems strange that they'd keep offering Spark Miles Plus after releasing Venture X Biz. I can't see why anyone would go for the former vs the latter. The Spark Miles Plus ends up being way more expensive than the Venture X Biz for anyone who uses the $300 travel credit.
Are the business cards any easier to get approved for? I have the venture x, got denied when I tried to apply for the regular venture. Using their pre approval tool I’m only pre approved for their low credit score cards with a 200 dollar limit LOL.
@ yepnope -- It's hard to say whether it's easier or harder, though in general you can expect that the requirements can be quite different for personal and business cards. I know some people who got approved for the personal card but not the business card, and vice versa. Assuming your credit score is good, it could be worth applying, since the worst downside is one inquiry (which shouldn't have a major impact for most), while there's a lot of upside here.
I have a spark biz & personal version of this card
I was denied based on having too many accounts of this type. They did offer me another card in the rejection with a rather large credit line but denied me on this product.
I wonder what too many accounts is?
Even after this app I qualify for 5/24
I have a personal Amex charge card (I don’t think my biz Amex shows on my credit report ) but I do have 1 as well.
Any others rejected for the same reason ?
@ Amillerlax -- Do you have the Spark Cash Plus? If so, I suspect that's why you were rejected, since it's the one card you can't have if you want to pick up this card. I shared my experience with that in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/venture-x-business-application/
Does this business card show up on your personal credit report?
@ Frank -- The Venture X Business and Spark Cash Plus typically won't report to your personal credit as long as your account remains in good standing, as these are both cards with no preset spending limit. Other Capital One business cards generally do report to your personal credit.
If this post is reviewed by Capital One, how can it be unbiased? Can you really say negative things about a card you earn referral money off of?
@ Ted -- Thanks for the question. There are dozens of credit cards that OMAAT has an affiliate relationship with (and therefore "earn referral money off of"), and I've many times said negative things about those cards. If you'd like a recent example, take a look at the Amex Bonvoy Bevy Card, which I've called one of Marriott's least lucrative credit cards.
In this case this is a sponsored post, which is extremely rare on...
@ Ted -- Thanks for the question. There are dozens of credit cards that OMAAT has an affiliate relationship with (and therefore "earn referral money off of"), and I've many times said negative things about those cards. If you'd like a recent example, take a look at the Amex Bonvoy Bevy Card, which I've called one of Marriott's least lucrative credit cards.
In this case this is a sponsored post, which is extremely rare on OMAAT. Out of tens of thousands of posts, I've maybe had a dozen sponsored posts. I stand by what I write about this card, and the overall value proposition. I wouldn't agree to do a sponsored post for a product I didn't believe in, or one where I had to say stuff I didn't believe. That's one of the reason that sponsored posts are so rare.
If you think I'm being unfair in my analysis or with what I write, by all means let me know.
I would say your praise of the Capital One Portal is unjustified. Generally their portal is slightly more expensive than its competitors or other OTAs.
It is run by Hopper which doesn't have great support, and the advice it gives is rarely accurate.
Ted, Ben has reviewed CapitalOne 100 times times now. As a long time reader, I have ZERO issues with him supporting his family by reviewing them again. He literally makes several points above that make me understand that this particular card/offer is not for my small business in particular. Amazes me how sensitive people are these days. Do You write off to the Wall Street Journal or New York Times when they do a sponsored...
Ted, Ben has reviewed CapitalOne 100 times times now. As a long time reader, I have ZERO issues with him supporting his family by reviewing them again. He literally makes several points above that make me understand that this particular card/offer is not for my small business in particular. Amazes me how sensitive people are these days. Do You write off to the Wall Street Journal or New York Times when they do a sponsored post (that they don't even add a much of a disclaimer, much less at the Top)? No You don't. Because those outlets don't have a comment section or a public facing individual for You to rail on. Gimme a break Ted.
Ditto - this is the same stuff that Ben has written before in posts that weren't sponsored. It's plainly his preexisting independent opinion, the sponsorship notwithstanding.
@BenjamInGuttery
Ted asked a valid question and got a valid answer from Ben. Not everybody is Ben especially when OMAAT exists in the same universe as TPG so the concern is understandable.