Insurance firm Sompo Holdings agreed yesterday to invest ¥54bn ($500m) in Palantir, a US-based data analysis services provider currently lining up an initial public offering.
Palantir has built big data analysis software that uses artificial intelligence to sift through massive amounts of structured and unstructured data in order to find informative patterns. Its customers include US law enforcement agencies as well as businesses such as Sompo.
The deal comes after Sompo and Palantir launched a Japanese joint venture in November 2019, and the companies said in a statement that Palantir Japan’s duties have included work combatting Covid-19.
Japan-based IT services firm Fujitsu invested $50m in Palantir last week in connection with a strategic partnership that will encompass both the US company and Palantir Japan. It had previously revealed $1.9bn in funding through press releases and regulatory filings.
Palantir has not disclosed the valuation at which either corporate invested, but Reuters reported that its shares have recently been traded at a valuation of $10bn to $12bn in private markets.
The company was valued at $20.3bn when it last announced funding, raising $880m in a 2015 round financed by unnamed investors, before adding $20m from an undisclosed backer in 2016.
Data analytics technology provider Relx is among Palantir’s earlier investors, having led a $35m series B round in 2009 through corporate venture capital vehicle Reed Elsevier Ventures (now known as REV).
Founders Fund, Tiger Global Management, SP Investments Management, Artis Ventures, Glynn Capital Management, GSV Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Khazanah Nasional, 137 Ventures, Kortschak Investments, Sozo Ventures and Ulu Ventures are also among the company’s backers.
