Palantir

Palantir Technologies develops software that integrates and analyzes large data sets. Gotham serves defense, intelligence and law enforcement agencies; Foundry serves commercial and civilian government customers; Apollo handles software delivery across environments; and AIP applies large language models to customer data. Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale and Nathan Gettings founded the company in 2003, with Karp as chief executive. It began in Palo Alto, moved its headquarters to Denver in 2020 and announced a move to Miami in February 2026.

Venture firms showed little early interest, so Thiel and his fund largely financed the first $30 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, while the CIA's venture arm In-Q-Tel invested about $2 million. Oakhouse Partners led a $7.5 million Series A in June 2006 and REV led a $10.5 million Series B in November 2006. Palantir did not give investors board seats. A September 2013 SEC filing disclosed more than $196 million raised; a December 2013 financing valued the company at $9 billion, a November 2014 round at $15 billion, and an $880 million round closed in late 2015 at $20 billion. Backers named by 2014 included Founders Fund, In-Q-Tel, Tiger Global Management, Ken Langone and Stanley Druckenmiller. The 2020 prospectus listed Founders Fund, SOMPO Holdings, UBS and 8VC among holders of more than 5% of a share class.

Palantir listed directly on the New York Stock Exchange on September 30, 2020 under the ticker PLTR, through a direct listing rather than an underwritten offering. It reported its first GAAP profitable quarter in early 2023, joined the S&P 500 in September 2024 and moved its listing to the Nasdaq that November. Revenue reported to the SEC grew from $743 million in 2019 to $2.87 billion in 2024 and $4.48 billion in 2025. In 2025 its market value passed $400 billion, and The Economist reported it at $430 billion.

The company is a long-hold case. Founders Fund and In-Q-Tel entered at inception in 2003 and 2004, and the first public exit came 17 years later. The last private mark of $20 billion in 2015 was followed by a period when Morgan Stanley put the value at $6 billion in 2018, so later private investors waited for the public market to rerate the business on government AI demand. Early investors who held through the listing saw a far larger multiple than the private rounds implied.