Capital One Acquires Concierge Firm Velocity Black

Capital One has acquired digital concierge company Velocity Black to supplement its offerings of customer experiences.

Velocity Black’s platform uses both technology and human experts to recommend and fulfill travel, entertainment, shopping and dining offerings to consumers. Adding this technology will strengthen Capital One’s “delivery of exceptional experiences for consumers,” the companies said in a Thursday (June 1) press release.

“Capital One and Velocity Black are committed to innovating on behalf of the customer, and both have raised the bar in their sectors,” Matt Knise, senior vice president, premium products and experiences at Capital One, said in the release. “Velocity Black’s deep service expertise and unique tech platform complement Capital One’s focus on building experiences that meet the evolving needs of our customer.”

The acquisition of Velocity Black is the latest in a series of moves Capital One has made to partner with innovators to create new products, according to the press release.

For example, the company partnered with Hopper to build Capital One Travel, acquired Wikibuy to power Capital One Shopping and collaborated with SevenRooms to develop Capital One Dining, the release said.

The acquisition by Capital One will help Velocity Black further scale its business, Velocity Black Co-founder and CEO Zia Yusuf said in the release.

“Together we will continue to pioneer best-in-class customer experiences for the digital age,” Yusuf said in the release.

As PYMNTS reported in March, there has been a rise of bank-owned travel portals to use the miles and points earned for booking travel on credit cards more directly, cutting out middlemen and taking friction out of points redemption.

For example, when Capital One launched Capital One Travel in partnership with Hopper in December 2021, the bank said it was looking for solutions that were data driven, design forward and customer friendly.

“We felt that together we could create a unique travel booking experience for cardholders and combat existing pain points in the current booking process,” Capital One Head of Travel Rewards Jamie Nettles said at the time.

PYMNTS research has found that consumers love points and rewards, whether they’re paying with a traditional credit card, stored payment credentials or cash.

For organizations offering these rewards, personalized rewards offerings could find the most success, according to “New Payment Options: Building Stronger Customer Ties With Pay By Bank Transfer,” a PYMNTS and Nuvei collaboration.