Palantir Notches $500M Ahead Of Potential IPO

In what is said to be one of the final investments prior to the trading of its shares publicly, Palantir Technologies Inc. notched $500 million in funding from Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings Inc. The infusion reduces the need for the data firm, which Peter Thiel backs, to bring in funds via an initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported.

Palantir is reportedly gearing up to privately file paperwork with regulators in the United States for shares to commence trading this autumn. However, those intentions are not set in stone. The tech company has thought about a direct listing. If the company were to select that option, it would reportedly not have to go on a roadshow and follow the other aspects of an IPO.

The Thiel-led board of Palantir is the ultimate arbiter when it comes with choosing the timing and manner of going public.

Palantir, for its part, provides software to firms and government bodies for handling and making sense of their data. In 2019, Sompo and Palantir created a joint venture and each owned half of the entity. Palantir previously told investors in 2020 that it foresees breaking evenly on $1 billion in revenue this year worldwide.

Palantir has previously garnered praised for assisting firms such as Merck KGaA in the quest for new pharmaceuticals and the American military root out terrorists.

CEO Alex Karp said per reports that his firm was patient with seeking an initial public offering as it sought to create confidence in its offerings. He said, “We were building products and we needed to kind of get enough of them out so that people would see the robustness of our company internally and externally.”

Investors reportedly valued the company at $20 billion five years ago, but it was not clear as of June 12 at what valuation it would seek its offering.

Government bodies throughout the glove use the company to assemble and find information to track the proliferation of the coronavirus.