In the broad landscape of corporate finance, investment banking, and private markets, the acronym CVC most prominently stands for Corporate Venture Capital, describing direct equity investments made by established corporations into external startup ventures. However, depending on the specific sector of the financial industry being referenced, CVC can also represent CVC Capital Partners, which is one of the largest and most prominent global private equity, credit, and alternative asset management firms in the world. Additionally, in retail banking, payment processing, and electronic commerce transactions, CVC stands for Card Verification Code (frequently interchanged with CVV), which is the physical three- or four-digit security code printed on credit and debit cards to authenticate remote, card-not-present transactions and protect consumers and merchants against digital fraud.