Juniper Bank was founded in January 2000 by several former executives of First USA Bank. Richard Vague - CEO, and Jim Stewart - President, received the initial round of funding from Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...

.

Juniper was initially a full service on-line bank, offering checking and savings accounts, online bill pay, credit and debit cards. Their initial focus was on providing a state of the art online banking service. Juniper later focused solely on credit cards, offering cards with partners such as US Airways

US Airways

US Airways, Inc. is a major airline based in the U.S. city of Tempe, Arizona. The airline is an operating unit of US Airways Group and is the sixth largest airline by traffic and eighth largest by market value in the country....

, the Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 Alumni Association, Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...

, and Apple, among others.

Juniper's investors sold the company to British-based

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Barclays Bank PLC in 2004. By 2005, Juniper had become the fastest growing major credit card

Credit card

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

 issuer in the US and in 2008 Juniper/Barclays , also known as simply Barclaycard, became one of the top 10 card issuers in the US, issuing both Visa and MasterCard

MasterCard

Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...

accounts.