Nesta was originally funded by a £250 million endowment from the UK National Lottery.

[4] In April 2012, following the appointment of chief executive Geoff Mulgan, the body became an independent charity, shortening its name to Nesta.

[5][6] With this change, Nesta shifted its focus to innovation for public benefit.

In 2016, Nesta received a $300,000 grant from the Global Innovation Fund to carry out research on market failures in aquaculture in Bangladesh and India.

[7] Following the arrival of Nesta's new chief executive Ravi Gurumurthy in December 2019, Nesta announced their new 10-year strategy in March 2021 which focuses on three core missions: sustainability, health inequalities and the education attainment gap.