Palantir Technologies, the data and analytics company that powers the coronavirus data reporting platform for HHS Protect, filed paperwork on Aug. 25 to go public, CNBC reports.
Eight details:
1. Peter Thiel founded Palantir in 2004; the company has a $26 billion valuation and has been poised to go public for years, according to the report.
2. Instead of selling shares through an initial public offering, Palantir is planning to debut on public markets with a direct listing, similar to tech giants Slack and Spotify's routes to go public.
3. HHS had a contract with Palantir to support its HHS Protect platform, which aggregates COVID-19 data reported by U.S. hospitals. Palantir's system gathers information on the spread of COVID-19 on behalf of HHS, and it includes more than 225 data sets covering demographics statistics and state-provided data, according to Science Magazine.
4. According to the SEC filing, Palantir lost $588 million on a pro-forma basis in 2019, while revenue increased almost 25 percent from the year before with loss staying the same. In the first six months of 2020, Palantir lost $165 million, or $175 million on a pro-forma basis.
5. Palantir works with two customer segments: commercial and both U.S. and non-U.S. government agencies. In the first half of 2020, about 54 percent of the company's revenue, or $257 million, came from the government segment. During the time period, Palantir recorded 125 customers, with $1.2 billion in remaining deal value from U.S. and allied government customers.
6. For the first six months of 2020, one government customer represented 11 percent of Palantir's total revenue and a commercial customer represented 10 percent of revenue. Palantir’s customers include the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Agriculture Department and SEC.
7. In a letter included in the Aug. 25 SEC filing, Palantir CEO Alex Karp distanced the company's mission and values from Silicon Valley, writing that Palantir has "repeatedly turned down opportunities to sell, collect or mine data," as opposed to consumer companies "built on advertising dollars," according to CNBC.
8. Last week, Palantir announced plans to move its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Colorado, according to the report.