Palantir Technologies Inc. is an SaaS company focused on AI and big data analytics. It was founded in 2003 in Denver, Co by well-known investors Peter Thiel and Stephen Cohen among others. The company’s goal is to augment human intelligence with data-gathering and analytic tools that can change the world for the better. As of 2022, Stephen Cohen, co-founder Alexander Karp, and Peter Thiel were president, CEO, and Chairman respectively.
Originally intended as a tool for the Federal Government, the company has since expanded to serve state and local governments as well as private corporations. The company’s name is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The palanteri are indestructible crystal globes used for seeing across great distances.
Today the company builds and deploys solutions for its clients based on three primary offerings. These are Palantir Gotham, Palantir Apollo, Palantir Foundry, and Palantir Metropolis. The goal is to generate alpha, or a competitive advantage, for its clients so they can succeed in a rapidly changing environment.
The company’s core offering is Palantir Gotham. Palantir Gotham was originally intended for the US intelligence community as a counter-terrorism tool but it has since been deployed by state and local governments as well as private enterprises as a global decision-making tool. Users are able to aggregate data from hundreds of inputs and funnel them into a single view for rapid decision-making and execution. The tool, which looks for and analyzes hidden patterns in deep data sets, has been used for “predictive policing” and has drawn some criticism because of it.
Palantir Apollo is an operating system designed to give continuous delivery and deployment of safe, secure Internet access across all operating environments. The system is 1 of 5 recognized by the Department of Defense as a Mission Critical National Security System and used by businesses and organizations for autonomous software deployment. Among its advantages, the system can speed up the development of new software by as much as 50% simply by securing access to sensitive information and networks.
