I forgive you if you aren’t familiar with Palantir Technologies. The company has remained secretive since it’s founding in 2003 by some of the members of the “PayPal Mafia.” Perhaps the most notable of which is co-founder Peter Thiel. If you have even the slightest knowledge of Silicon Valley, I’m sure you are familiar with Thiel. In addition to co-founding PayPal, Thiel was also the first outside investor in Facebook. According to Sissi Cao, “Silicon Valley’s billionaire futurist Peter Thiel wrote the first check to Facebook back in 2004 when the company was just a three-person dorm room start-up launched by Mark Zuckerberg.” This investment made Thiel a billionaire.

我原谅你，如果你不熟悉帕兰泰尔技术公司。 该公司自2003年由“ PayPal黑手党”的一些成员创立以来一直保持秘密。 也许其中最著名的是联合创始人彼得·泰尔。 如果您对硅谷一无所知，那么我相信您对Thiel很熟悉。 除了共同创立PayPal，Thiel还是Facebook的第一个外部投资者。 曹茜表示 ：“硅谷的亿万富翁未来主义者彼得·泰尔(Peter Thiel)早在2004年就向Facebook写了第一张支票，当时该公司只是马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)创办的一家三人宿舍。 这项投资使Thiel成为亿万富翁。

Thiel went on to become a founding partner of the Founders Fund, a venture capital firm that Ken Boyd writes, “has invested in many different sectors, including artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and the energy sector. The company has also invested in several highly successful ventures, including SpaceX” as well as Airbnb.

Thiel继续成为Ken Boyd 所写的风险投资公司Founders Fund的创始合伙人，“他已经投资了许多不同的领域，包括人工智能，高级计算和能源领域。 该公司还投资了几家非常成功的企业，包括SpaceX和Airbnb。

Thiel’s stake in the privately held firm Palantir Technologies is around 12%, and the companies current valuation ranges from $26 billion to $30 billion, according to PitchBook. The New York Times reported that Palantir Technologies filed to go public on Monday, July 6th, 2020. This filing set them up to be “one of the largest public listings of a technology start-up since Uber made its debut last year.”

根据PitchBook的数据 ，泰尔在私人公司Palantir Technologies中的持股比例约为12％，两家公司目前的估值在260亿至300亿美元之间 。 《纽约时报》 报道称 ，Palantir Technologies于2020年7月6日星期一申请公开上市。该文件将其设置为“自Uber去年首次亮相以来，科技初创企业最大的公开上市之一。”

Palantir会做什么？ (What Does Palantir Do?)

While you may not be familiar with Palantir as a company, if you are a Lord of the Rings fan, you may recognize the inspiration for the name, the palantiri. Katie Canales describes the objects from the classic story in a recent Business Insider article,

尽管您可能不熟悉Palantir作为一家公司，但如果您是指环王的粉丝，您可能会意识到palantiri这个名字的灵感。 凯蒂·卡纳莱斯(Katie Canales)在最近的Business Insider文章中描述了经典故事中的物品 ，

“the palantiri are a collection of indestrucible crystal stones used in Tolkien’s fictional Middle Earth as a means of “far-seeing” communication. The wizard Saruman uses one of the all-powerful seeing stones to surveil his foes and is ultimately corrupted by the unbounded knowledge that it provides him.”

“ palantiri是在Tolkien的虚构中土中使用的难以理解的水晶石的集合，是“远距离”交流的一种手段。 巫师萨鲁曼使用一种无​​所不能的看见石监视他的敌人，并最终因其提供给他的无边无际的知识而被破坏。”

The origin of the name may come across as a bit creepy but it is fitting given the Palo Alto company’s focus on big data analytics and who some of its largest clients are (especially for its Gotham product). Palantir Gotham is “used by counter-terrorism analysts at offices in the United States Intelligence Community and the U.S. Department of Defense, fraud investigators at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and cyber analysts at Information Warfare Monitor.” Other clients include the Department of Homeland Security, the NSA, FBI, CDC, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, and West Point. Yes, that is quite the list. Perhaps now you realize why they have been so secretive.

这个名字的由来可能有点令人毛骨悚然，但考虑到这家Palo Alto公司专注于大数据分析以及它的一些最大客户是谁(特别是其Gotham产品)，它的名称是合适的。 Palantir Gotham “被美国情报共同体和美国国防部办公室的反恐分析师，恢复问责制和透明度委员会的欺诈调查人员以及信息战监视器的网络分析师使用。” 其他客户包括国土安全部，国家安全局，联邦调查局，疾病预防控制中心，海军陆战队，空军，特种作战司令部和西点军校。 是的，这就是清单。 也许现在您知道了为什么他们如此秘密。

According to its website, “Palantir builds the world’s leading software for data-driven decisions and operations.” Palantir has three primary products, Palantir Gotham, Palantir Metropolis (formerly Palantir Finance), and Palantir Foundry. Gotham focuses primarily on data solutions for the intelligence community. Metropolis is the product used by hedge funds, banks, and financial institutions. Foundry is used by “corporate clients such as Morgan Stanley, Merck, Airbus, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.”

根据其网站 ，“ Palantir为数据驱动的决策和运营构建了世界领先的软件。” Palantir拥有三种主要产品 ，Palantir Gotham，Palantir Metropolis(以前称为Palantir Finance)和Palantir Foundry。 哥谭主要致力于情报界的数据解决方案。 大都会是对冲基金，银行和金融机构使用的产品。 Foundry被“摩根士丹利，默克，空客和菲亚特克莱斯勒汽车等公司客户使用 ”。

此次IPO将有多大？ (How Big Will This IPO Be?)

Given the use of its products in major government, financial, and other major business sectors, the Palantir IPO could be massive. Palantir operates in over 40 countries and has a proven track record of success with their technology. The company has some significant victories that might surprise you. In 2010, “vice president Joe Biden credited Palantir software for helping analysts at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board uncover fraud. A year later, CIA analysts used the same platform to find, track and ultimately kill Osama bin Laden”.

考虑到其产品在主要政府，金融和其他主要商业领域的使用，Palantir的IPO可能规模很大。 Palantir在40多个国家/地区开展业务，其技术取得了成功的成功记录。 该公司的一些重大胜利可能会让您感到惊讶。 “在2010年 ，副总裁乔·拜登(Joe Biden)赞扬了Palantir软件，该软件可帮助恢复问责制和透明度委员会的分析师发现欺诈行为。 一年后，中央情报局的分析师使用同一平台找到，追踪并最终杀死了乌萨马·本·拉登。

According to Bloomberg,

据彭博社报道 ，

“Palantir Technologies Inc. expects to generate $1 billion in revenue this year and break even for the first time in its 16-year history, offering shareholders a rare optimistic forecast in a badly bruised economy.”

“ Palantir Technologies Inc.预计今年将产生10亿美元的收入，并在其16年的历史上首次实现收支平衡，在经济遭受重创的情况下，向股东提供罕见的乐观预测。”

Most of Palantir’s contracts are longer-term. The Street reports that these contracts have “almost no churn” and “have made the business a cash cow. At the end of 2019, the company had $1 billion in cash on the balance sheet”. Large investors like BlackRock, Tiger Global, and Morgan Stanley further bolster the company.

Palantir的大部分合同都是长期合同。 《华尔街日报》 报道说，这些合同“几乎没有流失”，“使该业务成为摇钱树。 到2019年底，该公司资产负债表上有10亿美元现金”。 贝莱德，老虎环球和摩根士丹利等大型投资者进一步支持了该公司。

According to the Economic Times, Palantir is still debating whether to go public “via a traditional IPO or a direct listing.”Given Palantir’s strong track record and its massive list of clientele, this is a company to keep an eye on in the coming months.

根据《 经济时报》的报道 ，Palantir仍在辩论是否“通过传统IPO或直接上市”。鉴于Palantir的良好业绩和庞大的客户群，这是一家值得关注的公司个月。