Capital One Venture X Business “officially” launches with 300,000 miles offer

After a frustratingly opaque, months-long roll out (that included a rebranding from the orignal name of Spark Travel Elite), Capital One has “officially” launched their not-really-new business credit card: the Venture X Business. While the benefits and spending perks of this new card are almost identical to the Venture X, the starting welcome offer is crazy, both in terms of total points AND total required spend. Capital One is offering new cardholders 300,000 Capital One Miles after spending $500,000 in the first 12 months.

Even now, months after applications were first being accepted and following a long period where they weren’t, there’s still no public link for this card. The only way to apply for it is through a Capital One Relationship Manager (which sounds like couples therapy but isn’t). Now that the launch has happened, it looks like many folks have been able to get an application link directly from a business banker as well.

The Deal

• New cardholders can earn up to 300,000 miles after being approved for the Venture X Business Card. The bonus has a tiered structure:
  • Earn 150,000 miles after spending $30,000 within the first 3 months of card membership.
  • Earn an additional 150,000 miles after spending $500,000 within the first six months of card membership.
• Spark Cash Plus cardholders are not eligible for the Venture X Business.
• You must apply via a Capital One Relationship Manager (see comments for tips)

Key Card Details

Card Offer and Details

Capital One Venture X Business Card ⓘ $2005 1st Yr Value Estimate 150K Miles ⓘ Affiliate Earn a one-time bonus of 150K miles after $30K spend in the first 3 months $395 Annual Fee Recent better offer: Expired 3/31/23: 250K Miles after $50K in spend. FM Mini Review: Similar to the Venture X consumer card, the business version offers annual rebates that easily mitigate the fee for those who travel often and could be worth it for the lounge access and travel protections given the cost/benefit ratio. Unlike the Venture X, free authorized users do not get Priority Pass access. The card earns 2 "miles" per dollar on most purchases just like the Capital One Venture X Rewards card, which are worth exactly 1 cent each toward travel. This makes the return on most spend similar to a 2% cash back card (though in this case you must redeem your miles to offset travel in order to get 1 cent per mile). One big advantage over cash back: Capital One allows transfering their "miles" to airline miles & hotel points. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel ✦ 5x on flights booked via Capital One travel. ✦ 2X everywhere else. Base: 2X (2.9%) Other: 10X (14.5%) Card Info: Visa issued by CapOne. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $300 annual credit for bookings made through Capital One Travel ✦ 10,000 bonus miles starting at first anniversary ✦ Up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® ✦ Capital One Lounge Access ✦ Priority Pass w/ unlimited guests (includes restaurants) ✦ Plaza Premium lounge access ✦ Cell phone insurance ✦ Trip insurance ✦ Primary CDW coverage ✦ Redeem miles for travel at 1 cent per mile ✦ Convert "miles" to airline miles & hotel points ➥More

Quick Thoughts

The Venture X Business is effectively the small business version of the Venture X card and is almost identical in terms of benefits and earnings, making it a compelling keeper card. While you have to pay a $395 annual fee, in my opinion the anniversary bonus and $300 travel credit more than offset it, and you also get access to the excellent lounge benefits and 2x everywhere earning. In fact, although Capital One took away restaurants for the Priority Pass membership that comes with the consumer Venture X, business cardholders are still able to access them.

As far as the new welcome offer goes, even the first-tier spend will be a non-starter for many…$30K is a big number. Our Reasonable Redemption Values list Capital One miles at 1.45 cents per point, so that 150,000 points is worth ~$2,175. With the Amex Business Platinum still hanging out at 150K Membership Rewards points for half of the minimum spend, it’s certainly worth comparison shopping to make sure that the C1 card card is the best fit for your situation. It’s also worth noting that, since the Venture X Business does earn 2x on all spend, you’ll actually end up with a minimum of 210,000 C1 Miles after completing the $30K spend.

I don’t recall ever seeing a minimum spend requirement even closely approaching $500,000. That second tier will be out reach for most, even those that have large amounts of business spend. That said, I know some folks who have businesses with many authorized users and can’t change cards frequently based on bonused spend opportunities. For them, hitting the full spend on this offer could be appealing. By the end of the year, they’d have 1.3 million C1 Miles, with a conservative value of around ~$19K. That works out to ~3.8% back on that $500,000 in spending, which is quite competitive. For almost all others, there’s little reason to commit to that kind of spending for only 150K bonus miles.

What about the application via Capital One Relationship Manager? The comments thread has DP’s from multiple folks who were able to successfully apply for the card via Relationship Managers. It seems like the best way to get a hold of one is to message one via LinkedIn, although now that the card is sort-of officially public, I’ve heard of many folks being able to get application links from a Capital One business banker as well. Hopefully, we’ll soon have a public link so those that want to can apply like normal people.

View from the Wing reports that the card will not appear on your personal credit report, so this won’t affect your 5/24 status and the spend won’t be reported on your credit utilization. .

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.