What NBS Ventures does

NBS Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Nationwide Building Society, established in 2018 and headquartered in Swindon, United Kingdom. The unit makes minority equity investments in early-stage companies — predominantly at Seed through Series B stages — across domains strategic to Nationwide including fintech, data, cyber-security, regtech, proptech, and marketing technology. It manages a portfolio of 13 disclosed companies, including 10x, Hazy, Moneyhub, Scaled Insight, Ordo, Bunk, Form3, Bankifi, Switchd, MakeMyHouseGreen, Coadjute, Aveni, and an undisclosed cyber-security investment referred to as "Venture X."

The investment model is oriented around mutual benefit: NBS Ventures deploys capital and takes board observer positions to enable collaboration and strategic partnerships that accelerate Nationwide's strategy while supporting portfolio-company growth. The unit is staffed by a four-person core investment team (Head of Ventures, Venture Principal, Venture Associate, and Head of Legal – M&A), reflecting a deliberately lean operating model. Portfolio companies benefit from access to Nationwide's 16 million-member customer base, the institution's UK distribution footprint, and its credibility as a major UK mutual financial institution.

NBS Ventures does not generate revenue in a conventional product sense; its economic value is realized through equity returns on portfolio investments and strategic value captured by Nationwide Building Society, the parent mutual organization. Recent activity includes a strategic investment in Form3 in October 2025 paired with a seven-year Faster Payments managed-service extension, and parent-level collaboration with Visa on a financial-education program launching in April 2026.

Name

NBS Ventures

Legal name

Nationwide Building Society

Website

https://nbsventures.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

NBS Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Nationwide Building Society, investing minority equity in Seed-to-Series B startups across fintech, data, cyber-security, regtech, proptech, and marketing tech to accelerate Nationwide's strategic delivery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Venture Capital

NAICS

All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399), Other Financial Vehicles (52599)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Strategic Partnership & Ecosystem Investment Arms (FSANAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

• Corporate venture capital
• Early-stage investments
• Fintech venture capital
• Minority equity stakes
• Strategic venture investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Swindon

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Equity Investment Returns: NBS Ventures generates returns through equity investments in early-stage startups. They take board observer positions in portfolio companies and invest to enable collaboration and strategic partnerships that accelerate Nationwide's strategy while also supporting portfolio company growth.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

NBS Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Nationwide Building Society, investing globally in Seed and Series A fundraising rounds to take minority stakes in early-stage companies. Its focus areas include fintech, data, cyber-security, regtech, proptech, and marketing technology, with investments structured to enable mutually beneficial strategic partnerships between portfolio companies and Nationwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NBS Ventures Corporate Venture Capital Programme

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• VisacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Nationwide Building Society, parent company of NBS Ventures, partnered with Visa to develop a free financial education accreditation program for primary school teachers launching in April 2026, expanding to secondary teachers by year-end. The program covers topics such as managing money, avoiding scams, and recognizing misleading online content.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Mastercard Foundry / Start Path: Mastercard's innovation engagement and investment programmes targeting fintech, payments and digital-banking startups. Comparable as a global payments-network CVC competing for similar UK and European deal-flow in NBS Ventures' verticals.
• HSBC Innovation Banking: HSBC's venture-banking and innovation-finance unit, offering banking, lending and ecosystem support to high-growth tech and fintech companies. Comparable as a major UK-headquartered bank's innovation finance and partnership function, though broader in scope than a pure CVC.
• Visa Ventures: Strategic corporate venture arm of Visa, investing in payments, commerce and fintech startups globally. Comparable as a large incumbent payments-network CVC with strategic mandate; given Nationwide's Visa partnership, an increasingly direct peer in the UK.

Direct peers

• ABN AMRO Ventures: Corporate venture arm of ABN AMRO, investing in fintech and sustainability-related startups with strategic relevance to the bank's transformation agenda. Directly comparable as a European bank CVC pursuing strategic, not purely financial, returns.
• BBVA Spark: BBVA's fintech venture and growth investment arm, focused on strategic investments that align with the bank's digital transformation. Directly comparable as a large-bank CVC investing across fintech, data and adjacent verticals.
• CommerzVentures: Corporate venture capital arm of Commerzbank, investing in early- and growth-stage fintechs across Europe. Directly comparable as a European bank CVC with a fintech-focused, strategic-aligned thesis.
• Standard Chartered Ventures: Corporate venture arm of Standard Chartered Bank, investing in fintech and adjacent verticals relevant to the parent's banking strategy. Directly comparable as a bank-sponsored CVC deploying strategic capital into early-stage startups.
• NatWest Accelerator (and NatWest Group ventures): NatWest's innovation and venture engagement programmes targeting UK fintech and regtech founders, often in collaboration with NatWest's strategic priorities. Directly comparable as another UK high-street bank's CVC / accelerator function competing for the same deal-flow pool.
• BNP Paribas The Pool: BNP Paribas' startup engagement and venture platform connecting the bank to fintech, ESG and digital-economy founders. Comparable as a major European bank's CVC-style engagement programme with strategic alignment mandate.

Regional players

• Santander X: Santander's global entrepreneurship and venture-engagement platform, combining accelerator, venture and university programmes for early-stage founders. Comparable as a bank-sponsored innovation/venture platform operating in similar fintech, proptech and sustainability domains, though primarily non-UK in focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NBSVentures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments5 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NBS Ventures