One of the most secretive and interesting big-data companies. The American company currently has an agreement with the Norwegian police worth around 80 million kroner, under which it supplies data services and analytical tools, among other things.
The company was founded by, among others, Peter Thiel, who was also part of the PayPal 'mafia' and an early investor in Facebook. This is reflected in The Social Network, the 'Facebook film'.
More about who Peter Thiel is here. Read the related article
Palantir is expected to make its debut on the American stock exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, in these days. Here is the registration form for those who want to see the details. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm
They estimate it will be valued at around 26 billion dollars.
What the company does today is offer services to large public agencies such as the CIA and FBI, and to other large companies with a lot of big data. Palantir has good, advanced analytical tools that can read information — big data — in a way that makes it easier for the user to understand and act on. This could range from telecommunications traffic to what spreads through the fibre-optic cables between countries.
They continue to lose money despite their high valuation and large public-sector contracts around the world. But they invest in development and, above all, in being the best. That costs money.
The name Palantir is connected to the Lord of the Rings films: Saruman's magic stone that can see into the future. Like the magic stone, the company will try to do the same — without magic, but with big data and a dash of algorithms.
Here are some links with more information about the company Palantir:
https://www.palantir.com/about/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies
Fun fact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palant%C3%ADr
