Palantir Technologies, a CIA-backed data analytics company, is now worth $9 billion. The valuation comes after the company on Thursday disclosed in a securities filing that it has raised around $58 million in the latest funding round. If the company achieves the expected $100 million mark in this round, its total backing and CEO Alex Karp's net worth would hit $800 million and $900 million respectively.
Palantir was founded in 2004 by Stanford computer scientists and PayPal alumni, and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It provides data organization and analysis tools to various public and commercial sector clients including CIA, FBI, JPMorgan Chase and more.
The big data powerhouse received initial investment of $2 million from CIA's venture arm In-Q-Tel and $30 million from Founders Fund, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel's firm. While the list of backers in the latest fund raiser is still unknown, some of the previous backers include hedge fund Tiger Global and billionaires Kenneth Langone and Stanley Druckenmiller.
The company, which hasn't turned a profit yet, was valued at $6 million back in September. This surge in valuation has put Palantir well ahead of some comparatively well known startups like Spotify (worth $4 billion) and Pinterest (worth $3.8 billion). While many companies (like Twitter) went public at this stage, Palantir has no immediate plans for a public offering.