In sharp contrast to many other dot.com companies that are starved for new money, fledgling Juniper Financial has raised another $94 million, bring the total to $114 million. Juniper hasn't even started in business yet. It is scheduled to begin this fall, offering credit cards, checking accounts and bill payment.
The latest injection of funds was led by J&W Seligman, the mutual fund and investment company. Another investor was Cincinnati's Fifth Third Bancorp. And two other investors are mobile-oriented technology companies: Finnish-based Sonera Corp. and Maryland-based Aether Systems.
Juniper Financial is the on-line bank being organized by Richard Vague and Jim Stewart, founders of First USA, the credit card company that was acquired by Chicago's Bank One Corp.
Harri Hollmén, president and chief executive of Sonera Plaza Ltd.--a leading Internet portal in Finland--and formerly CEO of Leonia Bank, Finland's second largest, will join Juniper's Board. Other investors in the second tranche include Maverick Capital, Total Technology Ventures, Bench-mark Capital, Kingdon Capital and Kemper Ventures.
"Our initial target was to raise $50 to $75 million," said Stewart, Juniper's president, "but as we concluded our fundraising efforts, demand was strong enough to warrant increasing the amount to allow additional investors to participate."
The company said it has added more than 200 employees in the past six months.
