Palantir, the US-based big data processor backed by data analytics provider Relx, has revised its employee stock options to $6 a share, valuing itself at approximately $11bn, Fortune has reported.
The valuation represents a signficant drop from the $20.3bn Palantir achieved for an $880m funding round in 2015 and a fraction of the $41bn valuation it had reportedly been seeking for an initial public offering expected for this year.
Founded in 2003, Palantir produces data mining software that collates and analyses disparate personal and public data sources including text and audio recordings to detect patterns that can be used in areas such as financial services or security. Its engineers usually work with clients on their premises.
The company has reportedly never made a profit and the reduced valuation was accompanied by an announcement that it intends to pay its staff more generous bonuses to boost morale. The news also follows concerns over the Los Angeles Police Department’s alleged misuse of the software as a surveillance tool.
The reduced valuation also follows a string of controversies surrounding the personal and political beliefs of co-founder and chairman Peter Thiel which has reportedly made some engineers unwilling to join Palantir.
In addition to the internal down-valuation, several of the company’s shareholders have already valued their shares between $7.87 and $11.38, and investment bank Morgan Stanley’s mutual funds have placed their value as low as $2.49.
Palantir has raised more than $1.9bn in funding according to securities documents. REV, the Relx division then known as Reed Elsevier Ventures, led its $35m series B round in 2009.
Palantir’s investors also include Founders Fund, the venture capital firm formed by Thiel, as well as In-Q-Tel, the VC vehicle for the US intelligence community, and Khazanah Nasional, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia.
137 Ventures, Tiger Global Management, SP Investments Management, Artis Ventures, Glynn Capital Management, GSV Ventures, Kortschak Investments, Sozo Ventures, Ulu Ventures and assorted angel investors also own shares in the company.
