Peter Thiel's Palantir gets $500 million from Japan, just before expected IPO

Peter Thiel's Palantir on Thursday said a Japanese insurance holding company, Sompo Holdings, has committed to invest $500 million in the Silicon Valley data analysis and surveillance technology firm that serves the U.S. government and the Central Intelligence Agency, among other clients worldwide.

Writes Jane Lanhee Lee at Reuters:

The large investment from Sompo comes as Palantir has seen an uptick in demand for its products that help companies and governments manage the COVID-19 pandemic with data. The company declined to talk about Palantir's latest valuation or its plans to go public.

Reuters reported last week that Palantir is aiming to file confidentially with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering in the coming weeks, citing sources.

Palantir was valued at around $20 billion in its last fundraising round in 2015. In the private market, its shares have been trading in recent weeks at a valuation of between $10 billion and $14 billion, according to market sources.

Late last year, Palantir also launched a 50-50 joint venture with Sompo called Palantir Technologies Japan K.K. to service the Japanese government as well as commercial clients. And earlier this month another Japanese tech company, Fujitsu Limited, invested $50 million into Palantir in the United States. Both Sompo and Fujitsu are also customers of Palantir.

More at Reuters:Japanese insurer Sompo investing $500 million in data analytics firm Palantir