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At a glance
- Best for: High-spending businesses
- Annual Fee: $395
- APR: N/A
- Reward Rate: 2X-10X
- Recommended Credit: 740-850
Capital One Venture X Business
150,000 Bonus Miles
Offer Details:
Earn 150,000 miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
Why we like it
The Venture X’s intro bonus is huge. For higher spending businesses, few cards can offer as much in the way of miles. The 2x mile per dollar flat-rate makes earning simple and its $395 annual fee is lower than many of the competing preimum cards. Cardholders get their money’s worth in additional benefits, like lounge access, and employee cards can be added for free.
Reward details
2 miles per dollar on every purchase
5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
Pros & Cons
Pros
Huge introductory bonus
Strong flat-rate earning on all purchases
High-end perks and benefits
Free employee cards
No foreign transaction fees
Cons
High spending threshold to earn bonus
Overview
Capital One nailed it with their premium personal product, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. Its generous bonus, outstanding earning opportunities, and easy-to-use perks and credits make it arguably the most accessible high-end card on the market.
But can we say the same for its business-centric sibling, the Capital One Venture X Business?
In several ways, it’s even stronger. With one of the most impressive introductory offers and high-end perks rivaling its top competitors, most business owners would find this card a valuable addition. But with that added power, comes limitations on who can use it effectively. In short, big spenders stand to benefit the most.
Let’s take a look at this card, and see if it ticks all the boxes for you and your business.
Who is the Capital One Venture X Business review best for:
The Capital One Venture X Business is ideal for high-spending business owners looking for simplicity and value. However, smaller budget operations can still find a use for it, even if they can’t reach the lofty heights of the introductory bonus.
The Bottom Line:
The Capital One Venture X Business combines all the best parts of the personal card of the same name, then ramps up the earning opportunity for those with big expenses. Businesses that fall in the right spending bracket can see a major miles return while enjoying high-end perks typically reserved for far more expensive cards.
Intro Bonus
First up: the introductory offer.
The Capital One Venture X Business offers new cardholders a whopping 150,000 Venture Miles after spending $30,000 within three months of opening the account.
There are some important things to unpack here. Number one: that’s one of the biggest public offers around. 150,000 miles is, with minimal effort, worth $1,500. By transferring them to a valuable travel partner, it’s easy to squeeze over $3,000 out. That’s a big enough number to interest anyone.
But, and it’s a huge but, spending $30,000 in three months is not feasible for everyone. That’s not a figure anyone should force spending to achieve, and it should disqualify a significant number of business owners immediately.
If you’re opening this card with hopes of earning 150,000 miles and can’t safely hit that figure, reconsider and open a card with a more accessible spending threshold.
With that said, I’ll go into some more detail later as to why the card might still work for you, even without the bonus.
Pros & Cons
The Capital One Venture X Business card has a lot going for it. In the right hands, it might be the best business card around. But it’s not all sunshine and roses. The card does have some important pitfalls that some business owners will struggle to overcome. Here are the pros and cons of the product.
Pros
- Immense 150,000-mile intro
- Simple flat-rate earning scheme
- Excellent travel credits
- High-end perks like lounge access
- Intro bonus value can be easily recouped
- Cheaper premium card than its competitors
Cons
- The intro bonus threshold is extremely high
- The $395 annual fee may be too expensive for some
- Several perks require travel to get value from
Benefits & Perks
One area this card does not skimp on is its benefits and perks. With an annual cost of $395, you can rest assured those fees are helping fund some genuinely helpful add-ons that more than justify the cost. Here’s a rundown of everything the card offers.
$300 Annual Travel Credit
Like the personal card, the Venture X Business offers a $300 travel credit annually. The credit will reset each cardholder’s anniversary and can be used to redeem flights, hotels, and rental cars. It can only be used on Capital One Travel, so it’s important to set a reminder to use it before it resets each year.
If you typically spend at least $300 on travel each year (most of us do), the benefit effectively reduces the card’s out-of-pocket cost to $95 a year. That’s a big deal for those trying to ensure value from the card.
10,000 mile anniversary bonus
On top of the travel credit, Capital One will also drop 10,000 bonus miles into your account each cardholder anniversary. There are no stipulations to this other than keeping the account in good standing.
Used on Capital One Travel, that 10,000-point bonus is worth $100. Combined with the $300 credit, you’d now be earning $5 back from the card.
Unlimited lounge access
In line with competing cards, the Capital One Venture X Business card offers cardholders unlimited access to the growing number of Capital One lounges, as well as Priority Pass and Plaza Premium lounges. In all, this equates to well over 1,300 lounges worldwide.
Capital One only has lounges in Dulles, Dallas, and Denver, but potential customers in those locations may find the card even more attractive.
Up to $120 in statement credits for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry
The card also offers up to $120 in statement credits every four years for application fees to Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. Just use the card to pay for the application and the credit will appear in your account within a few billing cycles. Confused about the four-year figure? Don’t worry, a membership cycle lasts that long, so you won’t have to pay a thing.
It’s helpful to know that successfully applying to Global Entry also grants you TSA PreCheck, so if you’re okay to wait a little longer you can have both programs covered.
The best of the rest
On top of all these high-value perks, cardholders also enjoy:
- A $100 experience credit for hotels, resorts, and vacation rentals in Capital One’s Premier Collection
- No foreign transaction fees
- Employee cards for no extra cost
- Extended warranty protection
- $0 fraud liability
- Business tools like year-end summaries, manager assignments, spending limits, purchase records, and virtual card numbers
Even using a few of these benefits helps offset the card’s annual fee, allowing you to take full advantage of the true value of all your earnings—which we’ll dive into now.
Earning rewards & redeeming points
The Capital One Venture X Business card adopts an identical earning system to the personal version. The bank is known for its flat-rate schemes that some love and some may find limiting. Your company spending trends or personal preferences will dictate which side of the line you fall on.
Earning rewards
2x miles per dollar on everything
As with other Capital One products, the Venture X Business uses a flat rate of 2x miles per dollar on all purchases. There are only two exceptions to the rate, which I’ll cover in the next section.
While this may seem less interesting than other cards that may offer, 3,4, or 5 miles per dollar in specific categories, the catch-all style can often be more effective—especially for business owners with wide-ranging or fluctuating expenses.
Those with regular high-spending in a specific category may find better earning opportunities with other cards, but for a simple, no-nonsense strategy that pulls in thousands of miles each year, the Venture X Business can’t be beaten.
There’s no cap on earnings, either. Unlike some bonus category-centered cards.
10x miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars purchased on Capital One Travel
The card also offers an impressive 10x miles per dollar on hotel and car rentals purchased via Capital One Travel. While it’s a generous rate, it’s important to remember that achieving the best rate isn’t always possible using the issuer’s portal.
The platform operates much like other travel booking aggregators, but can often have higher prices. If you’re happy to compromise a little on this, it’s a great earning opportunity.
5x miles per dollar on flights purchased on Capital One Travel
Similarly to the hotel and car rental rate, the Venture X Business offers 5x miles per dollar on flights purchased through Capital One Travel. Again, this is a good rate, but still leaves customers at the mercy of the portal’s prices.
Including Capital One Travel in your travel searches is always a good idea. If the rates match the best ones you can find, that’s the best time to earn the most miles and save the most money.
Redeeming points
Now for the fun part—redeeming those miles. Capital One offers multiple redemption methods, each with its own merits.
Transferring to travel partners
Transferring to one of Capital One’s 15+ airline and hotel partners is by far the best way to redeem your miles. Airline programs like Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club all have excellent sweet spots, allowing members to enjoy outweighed value on their points.
Finding a strong redemption could squeeze as much as 10 cents per mile from your earnings—and with an intro bonus of 150,000 miles, that’s a lot of value to consider.
Here’s a list of all Capital One’s transfer partners.
- Aeromexico Rewards
- Air Canada Aeroplan:
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Accor Live Limitless
- Avianca LifeMile:
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges (only U.S.-based accounts)
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Airways Guest
- EVA Airways Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Red
- Wyndham Rewards
Here are a few ideas for how to use your miles
- Fly from anywhere in the US to Hawaii in business class for 15k with Turkish Airlines
- Fly business class to Europe for 34,000 miles with Iberia
- 150,000 miles can grab 20 free nights in a Wyndham hotel
- Transfer 29,000 miles to Virgin to fly Business class to London
Booking through the Capital One Travel Portal
Coming in at a distant second is using the Capital One Travel Portal. While this is the easiest redemption option, Venture Miles are fixed at a 1 cent value. While this isn’t technically a bad thing, opting to use this method instead of enjoying more flights or stays for fewer miles seems counter-intuitive.
Still, if you value simplicity, it’s there to use.
Cash-back and gift cards
Using your miles for cashback or gift cards is also possible. Again, this isn’t great value unless you find a strong deal on the gift cards. If you want gift cards, buy them with a credit card and use the cashback to cover the costs. That way, you’ll still earn points when you purchase them.
Qualifying for a small business credit card may be easier than you think
When you think of a “small business,” you may envision a revenue amounting to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, multiple employees, a storefront, etc. However, none of these things are required to get a small business card. You can qualify for a business card if you perform services such as babysitting, driving for Uber or DoorDash, tutoring, freelance writing, selling items on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, and more—the list goes on.
A small business doesn’t even have to be your main job. As long as you’ve got a for-profit venture, you qualify for the card—though whether you’re approved will depend on additional factors like your credit score, income, and more.
Is this card right for you?
While big-spending businesses capable of hitting the hefty $30,000 spending threshold are the obvious target market, smaller businesses can still use the card effectively. Even if you can’t earn the bonus, the card’s perks and benefits make it easy to recoup the annual fee’s value, allowing you to earn on everything without thinking too much about it.
With that said, there are some excellent bonuses available with much smaller spending thresholds, so I’d still primarily recommend this card to a business owner with bigger expenses.
- Best for: High-spending businesses
- Annual Fee: $395
- APR: N/A
- Reward Rate: 2X-10X
- Recommended Credit: 740-850
Capital One Venture X Business
150,000 Bonus Miles
Offer Details:
Earn 150,000 miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
Why we like it
The Venture X’s intro bonus is huge. For higher spending businesses, few cards can offer as much in the way of miles. The 2x mile per dollar flat-rate makes earning simple and its $395 annual fee is lower than many of the competing preimum cards. Cardholders get their money’s worth in additional benefits, like lounge access, and employee cards can be added for free.
Reward details
2 miles per dollar on every purchase
5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
Pros & Cons
Pros
Huge introductory bonus
Strong flat-rate earning on all purchases
High-end perks and benefits
Free employee cards
No foreign transaction fees
Cons
High spending threshold to earn bonus
by your friends at The Daily Navigator
